What's up with St. John?

So what the heck is going on with McCain? As everone and his brother has noted, yesterday McCain told CNN (and everyone else as well) that there were several peaceful neighborhoods in Baghdad where you could go walking down the street without protection. Later, Wolf Blitzer asked CNN's Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware if this were true. He said it was utterly laughable. That a westerner wouldn't last 20 minutes anywhere in Baghdad. If the Sunnis or the Shi'as didn't get you the robbers and thugs would.

More and more, McCain seems to be living in lala land. Yes, his colleagues on the wingnut side of the aisle have been doing that for years, but in the past, McCain has usually seemed to be reality based, even when I disagreed with him (which was often). Now, he just seems to have lost it. I'm wondering if he's going where Ronald Reagan went. Or, is it just pandering for political gain? If the latter, it isn't working.