Or it's a testament to a subtle and pervasive media bias

From National Journal's Blogomoter:

Liberal bloggers are hammering John McCain for incorrectly asserting that the Iraq troop surge "began the Anbar Awakening" (in reality, the Anbar Awakening began months before the surge strategy was implemented). Liberal bloggers are describing McCain's statement as a "breathtaking" mistake that "disqualifies him from being president". They're also tying McCain's remark to his other Iraq-related misstatements -- such as confusing Shiites and Sunnis and making an incorrect statement about troop levels -- and arguing that the presumptive GOP nominee is ignorant of basic facts about Iraq.

The Politico noted yesterday that McCain's misstatements "have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs." It's a testament to how much credibility McCain possesses on matters of foreign affairs (deservedly or undeservedly, depending on your perspective) that these gaffes haven't appeared to hurt his campaign in any significant way. Given that Barack Obama does not have McCain's years of political and military experience, these sorts of mistakes would likely do considerable damage to the Dem candidate's presidential hopes.

No, sorry. It's a testament to how the corporate media, as David Broder already admitted, think they already "know" John McCain - they even bring him his favorite donuts - so there's nothing McCain can do that will cause the media to criticize him, ever. When a man keeps getting confused, in his area of expertise, over and over again, and he's rarely made such mistakes before, it's time to start asking some questions about just what's going on. If anything, John McCain making repeated misstatements in his area of "expertise" should raise even more red flags, rather than allay fears - McCain shouldn't be making these kind of mistakes on this subject matter, and he didn't used to. So why is he now? He's run for president before, been under pressure before - but he's never routinely confused his facts before. So why now? That's a story, even if you know his favorite donuts.