Yesterday, in a rare moment when his mouth wasn't full of barbecue, war expert John McCain invited handsome, naive Barack Obama on a romantic trip to a very hot spot…

Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.

Yes, look at what happened. And without making regular visits to Iraq, there is no way Barack Obama — or anyone else — could know what's going on over there. I mean, it's virtually impossible to find any information about that country…

Over the weekend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain's top surrogates, laid the groundwork for McCain's criticism in a television interview in which he noted Obama's absence from Iraq and floated the idea that Obama and McCain should go together to be briefed by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Asked whether he'd be willing to take such a trip, McCain told the AP: "Sure. It would be fine."

"I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq," he said. McCain questioned whether Obama has ever been briefed by Petraeus [Just a little, but it didn't mean anything]. "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way."

Hmmm. Somehow I get the sense that "educate" wasn't really the verb he wanted to use in that sentence. But now the question is, if one politician asks another politician to go on a date to a war zone, which one pays for the bulletproof vests?