It's a Three-Man Race: Obama vs The Two McCains

[kevinmc]

Huffington Post

"How honest are we if we tell the truth most of the time & stay silent only when telling the truth might get us fired or earn us a broken nose? We need moral courage to be honest all the time."

Those words were written by John McCain in his 2004 book Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life.

I couldn't agree with them more. I just wish John McCain did. Not the John McCain who wrote them in 2004; the John McCain running for president in 2008. There's a big difference.

When Barack Obama finally secured the Democratic nomination over Hillary Clinton, we all thought it was down to a two-man field. Obama vs. McCain. But it's turned out to be a three-man race: Obama vs the Old, Honorable McCain and his political doppelganger the New, Unprincipled McCain.

After a month dominated by the new-but-definitely-not-improved McCain, it was actually a bit of a shock to see the John McCain so many of us fell in love with in 2000 make a rare appearance at the Rick Warren forum the other night. Engaging, easy-going, able to connect his incredible life story to his view of the world. Hearing him tell the story of how he and Cindy came to adopt their youngest daughter Bridget, you could almost forget this was the same man who for much of the summer has been running a disgraceful, dishonorable campaign.

And even this rare appearance by the old McCain was tainted a bit by the "cone of silence" dust-up (particularly his campaign's ridiculous use of the former-POWs-never-lie defense), and the question of whether McCain lifted his moving "cross in the dirt story" from Solzhenitsyn.........................