Black Box Report

Now that Democrats have all but officially chosen a nominee, people are turning more attention to what that John McCain fellow's been up to. This week the Maverick denied a Huffington Post report that in 2000, he told a Hollywood dinner party he did not vote for George W. Bush. McCain's campaign denied the report, but it has since been confirmed by several sources, including Candace Bergen and "West Wing" actors Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff:

There are three witnesses now. Anybody honestly think all 3 are lying? Now, this may help McCain with moderates, who hate Bush, but it won't help him with conservative and other die-hard Republicans who have always suspected that Mr. McCain was more comfortable around Democrats (read: Joe Lieberman) than Republicans.

I would suggest that Republicans would be less upset that McCain, after a bruising primary fight with Dubya in the summer of 2000, didn't vote for Bush that year than they would be that John McCain was at a Hollywood dinner party with Republican-turned-liberal apostate Arianna Huffington, Murphy Brown and a couple of Holloywood actors.

Then the newspaper that knows John McCain the best, the Arizona Republic, took a look at McCain's other voting habits, and found he's not quite the Maverick he claims to be:

What this really reveals isn't so much McCain's principles, conservative or otherwise, as his lack of them. During the six years he wasn't running for president, McCain publicly and gaudily promoted his maverick credentials by voting against his party 18 times. But in the four years he was running for president, Mr. Straight Talk suddenly became Mr. Straight Ticket, voting against the GOP only once.

Conclusion: he'll do whatever it takes to get your vote. During off years he pimps for the independent vote and during election years he pimps for the conservative vote. Sure, it's craven, but it's a nice gig if you can get away with it.

And if you had any doubts McCain was a Republican's Republican, he's called Obama the Hamas candidate, going back on his pledge to take the high road and run an honorable campaign. Obama replied McCain had "lost his bearings," as both have identical policies on Hamas. McCain's campaign fired back, accusing Obama of...ageism?

"Losing his marbles"? Sure. "Losing control of his faculties"? No doubt. But "losing his bearings" has nothing to do with age - it refers to someone who has lost their way. They're off track. They're moving in the wrong direction. The McCain gang probably should have let this one go; it only serves to remind everyone that McCain would be the oldest president in American history, and that they'd prefer that this topic remain off limits.

For months, as Democrats reserved their ammo for each other, it seemed like John McCain himself was off-limits. All that's about to change.

And in the meantime, McCain had his BFF Joe Lieberman stick upo for him in what is, by far, the creepiest defense I've heard this year:

"I just want to report that this morning I personally checked John McCain’s bearings. He has not lost any of them. They are all in really great shape."

Ummmm...

Ew.