Oops, Bush did it again. After telling Australia's deputy prime minister that "We're kicking ass" in Iraq, U.S. President George W. Bush made two more of his characteristic verbal blunders at the APEC summit in Sydney.

In a speech this morning, Bush welcomed business leaders to the OPEC meeting, not the APEC meeting.

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As he continued his speech, Bush recalled how Australian Prime Minister John Howard had gone to Iraq last year to visit "Austrian troops." Actually, there are no Austrian troops in Iraq, but there are 1,500 Australian military personnel in and around Mesopotamia.

Freshly minted GOP White House hopeful Fred Thompson puzzled Iowans yesterday by insisting an Al Qaeda smoking ban was one reason freedom-loving Iraqis bolted to the U.S. side.

“They said, ‘You gotta quit smoking,’” Thompson explained to a questioner asking about progress in Iraq during a town hall-style meeting. […]

Thompson’s tale of a smokers’ revolt baffled some in the audience of about 150 who came to decide whether the former Tennessee senator is ready for prime time.

“I don’t know what that was about,” said Jim Moran, 72, who had driven from nearby McCook Lake, S.D.

Thompson’s been getting a lot of that lately.

Just from the last couple of days:

* He’s having trouble explaining his position on Social Security, despite his assertion that the issue is one of the reasons he’s running for president.

* Thompson dismissed the significance of Osama bin Laden, describing him as “more symbolism than anything else.”

* He believes “we better figure out a way” to combat al Qaeda. Not that he necessarily knows how, of course, only that “we better figure out a way.”

* Thompson proposed a bizarre constitutional amendment on gay marriage yesterday, and argued that “zero” state legislatures “have affirmatively approved gay marriage,” a claim that happens to be wrong.

MR. VANDEHEI: Mayor Giuliani, this question comes from Eric Taylor (sp) from California. He wants to know, what is the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'a Muslim?

MR. GIULIANI: The difference is the descendant of Mohammed. The Sunnis believe that Mohammed's -- the caliphate should be selected, and the Shi'ites believe that it should be by descent. And then, of course, there was a slaughter of Shi'ites in the early part of the history of Islam, and it has infected a lot of the history of Islam, which is really very unfortunate.

MR. ROMNEY: ... I don't want to buy into the Democratic pitch, that this is all about one person, Osama bin Laden. Because after we get him, there's going to be another and another. This is about Shi'a and Sunni. This is about Hezbollah and Hamas and al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the worldwide jihadist effort to try and cause the collapse of all moderate Islamic governments and replace them with a caliphate.

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, all expressed disbelief in evolution. Huckabee later told reporters, according to The New York Times, that “If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, I’ll accept that”

In a small, mirror-paneled room guarded by a Secret Service agent and packed with some of the city's wealthiest and most influential political donors, Mr. McCain got right to the point.

"One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullshit,'" said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests.