No, Steve, I’m not afraid to mention it, and yes, it’s perfectly fair to call it an error in judgment, although I’ll pass on the barely veiled accusation of senility per the word “confusion” that all the hip lefty kids are using these days. Also, I’m not sure why the cycle of outrage and victimization or the studious ignorance of information damaging to one’s own side is supposed to be unique to right-wing bloggers; those are standard garbage blogospheric dynamics that cut across ideological lines. Wake me when Think Progress goes after some lefties, ok?

I don’t know what McCain was thinking here. Maybe because of the intense media coverage he figured Obama’s itinerary was already known, or maybe he was just guessing as to the scheduling. That’s what it sounds like:

“I believe that either today or tomorrow — and I’m not privy to his schedule — Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators” who make up a congressional delegation, McCain said at a Republican fund-raiser.

McCain’s campaign spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan insisted to reporters later: “He doesn’t know when he’s going. He’s not privy to that information. He was speaking in broader terms, about when Obama does land in Iraq.”

Either way, it’s sloppy. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow if Obama turns up in London whether McCain really was in the dark or not. Honest question: If Reuters thought this incident was dangerous enough to warrant a full news story, why didn’t they redact the part of McCain’s quote that specified when he thought Obama will be arriving? I chose not to redact here myself because the cat’s already out of the bag and on the wires, but how about rewriting it this way: “I believe that either [on X day or on Y day] — and I’m not privy to his schedule…” Or would that have made it sound even worse than it was, like McCain was giving specific dates?

Update: Keep your eye on Memeorandum as the leftist reactions pour in and prove Steve right that only right-wingers contrive extravagant uproars over innocent mistakes for political advantage.