if McCain gets in

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like he hurts. It makes me uncomfortable to watch. Obama has a significantly larger amt of data in his mind (constitutional law professor, etc) to sort through, gather, and assemble before he responds to a question. It is to his favor that he does not immediately yelp out an answer like a trained seal.

Following his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain did something extraordinary: He confessed to lying about how he felt about the Confederate battle flag, which he actually abhorred. "I broke my promise to always tell the truth," McCain said. Now he has broken that promise so completely that the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.

The precise moment of McCain's abasement came, would you believe, not at some news conference or on one of the Sunday shows but on "The View," the daytime TV show created by Barbara Walters. Last week, one of the co-hosts, Joy Behar, took McCain to task for some of the ads his campaign has been running. One deliberately mischaracterized what Barack Obama had said about putting lipstick on a pig -- an Americanism that McCain himself has used. The other asserted that Obama supported teaching sex education to kindergarteners.

"We know that those two ads are untrue," Behar said. "They are lies."

Freeze. Close in on McCain. This was the moment. He has largely been avoiding the press. The Straight Talk Express is now just a brand, an ad slogan like "Home Cooking" or "We Will Not Be Undersold." Until then, it was possible for McCain to say that he had not really known about the ads, that the formulation "I approve this message" was just boilerplate. But he didn't.

"Actually, they are not lies," he said.

Actually, they are.

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains -- his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that's all -- but just as honorably. No more, though.

I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain. Guilty. Those doing the accusing usually attributed my feelings to McCain being accessible. This is the journalist-as-puppy school of thought: Give us a treat, and we will leap into a politician's lap.

Not so. What impressed me most about McCain was the effect he had on his audiences, particularly young people. When he talked about service to a cause greater than oneself, he struck a chord. He expressed his message in words, but he packaged it in the McCain story -- that man, beaten to a pulp, who chose honor over freedom. This had nothing to do with access. It had to do with integrity.

McCain has soiled all that. His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir -- the person in whose hands he would leave the country -- is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.

At a forum last week at Columbia University, McCain said, "But right now we have to restore trust and confidence in government." This was always the promise of John McCain, the single best reason to vote for him. America has been cheated on too many times -- the lies of Vietnam and Watergate and Iraq. So many lies. Who believes that in Afghanistan last month, only five civilians were killed by the American military in an airstrike, instead of the approximately 90 claimed by the Afghan government? Not me. I first gave up on the military during Vietnam and then again when it covered up the death of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger and former NFL player who was killed in 2004 by friendly fire.

McCain was going to fix all that. He was going to look the American people in the eyes and say, not me. I will not lie to you. I am John McCain, son and grandson of admirals. I tell the truth.

But Joy Behar knew better. And so McCain lied about his lying and maybe thinks that if he wins the election, he can -- as he did in South Carolina -- renounce who he was and what he did and resume his old persona. It won't work. Karl Marx got one thing right -- what he said about history repeating itself. Once is tragedy, a second time is farce. John McCain is both.

cohenr@washpost.com

Bush systematically deregulating (savings and loans - Keating 5) and wall street so that the souless corporations can do whatever they want without any limits. they have removed the safety factors built into the system after the great depression. Well, now we have the situation that deregulation brings. As Romney said at this years' repub convention - McCain is going to go at all the regulations on industry with a weed wacker.

Oh and saw on the news that this bailout will affect even the people who do live within their means because it means that the Jones' house that gets foreclosed on will reduce the amount my house is worth and therefore I lose too! Something needs to be done and quick!

It is not fair to simply point out Obama's plans when you do not mention McCain's either. What are McCain's plans? All he seems to do is "knock" Obama. Oh better consider what Palin has to say too, you know McCain is getting no younger or any healthier for that matter.

I was rolling my eyes, grimacing, and ready to blow my top at some of the things the O stated. I also giggled and laughed at some of his outrageous plans.

It's McCain for me. No way do I want to live under the O's vision of "change the world".

Oh, hey! I take that back!!! If O becomes President, I think hubby and I will quit working as then we can have everything handed to us, too. Yeah. That's it! We'll just quit and let the rich people take care of us. Hubby has been working since he was 8, I started when I was 14, and I'm talking 46 years of hard work to get where we are now.

If McCain is elected, for the first time in American history, health insurance benefits will be taxed, and the insurance companies will be the next "Wall Street" fiasco.

2. He has fought for this country and did the right thing when nobody was looking.

3. He is a moderate republican and does not hesitate to cross the aisle with issues.

4. I trust him unequivocally and believe he will do his best to serve his country.

6. I think spending less is important now with the crisis in our midst and I feel that his deduction increases will help me and my family tremendously.

The man is exhausted. You can hear it in his voice. I think that with everything that is happening in the world he will not have the energy to do what needs to be done right now and follow through with his promises.

I do not buy ANY of the partisan retoric that I hear. I believe NONE of the negative ads, NONE of the smear tactics from either side. I believe both are patriotic Americans and just have a different ideology.

With McCain being old, SP as a VP, and looking like more of the same Bush policies, I think it is time to give someone new a chance. Our government has many checks and balances. There is no reason to fear people. If things don't go to our satisfaction, we can vote him out in four years! You all act like a vote for Obama is a vote for a dictator and that will be the end of us all. Come on! Give the guy a chance. You never know, after eight years, you might not want him to leave!

Vote for McCain if you think that is what is right, but don't fear what will happen when and if Obama is elected, and please realize that this is a political campaign and lies are abound. Do not believe everything you hear that fits your little narrrow niche. Expand your mind and realize what could be.

Lastly, I remember that John F. Kennedy said "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". I heard him say it. Our country is not our government, our country is our people. I was uplifted by JFK way back then and get the same uplifted feeling now. I am voting for Obama.

I don't think the pubs paid attention in history class. What they don't realize is that the govt of Iran has been "instilled" for years by someone other than Iranian people. We did it in the 50s, and Britian did it before then. Before these guys (pubs) go any further with their righteous little dance of condemning the Iranian govt, they need to find out if the people of Iran actually want their help (and that would more than likely be a big NO).

As your post demonstrates, this is what Obama didn't want to do....that is, give the Iranian govt any kind of leverage. I guess the party of NO is just going to do anything to go against Obama, regardless of the cost. I just hope they don't blow this as there is a very good chance that the people of Iran (particularly without our help) could get a huge regime change, including the supreme leader, and that is what we really need to happen to be able to talk to them about nukes.

What I think is really amazing is that McCain is actually speaking out about this like he's all upset. Isn't he the one who sang the "bomb, bomb Iran song?" What....all the sudden he's had a change of heart? Unreal.

if McCain gets in

The Ugly New McCain