One Question Not to Ask McCain

Apparently, the question is this: did you have a conversation with John Kerry about being his VP in 2004? One reporter who doggedly kept pushing this question got McCain's hackles raised. Something that, we understand, is not that difficult.

Several weeks ago, before McCain secured the nomination, this was a very dicey question indeed. It cuts to the heart of what it means to represent a political party, to carry its banner into an election and into the White House. It also undercuts McCain's solidarity with Bush in Iraq, since by the time he had this conversation with Kerry his flip against the Iraq war was already clear.McCain seems to think that everyone already knows everything they need to know about that conversation.

Asked again about the conversation, McCain said, "No. No. Because the issue is closed, as far as I'm concerned. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it in America."

Could he describe the conversation? "No, of course not," McCain said. "I don't describe private conversations. Why should I? Then there's no such thing as a private conversation."

Is it really a private conversation when a Republican US senator is talking to a Democratic party nominee about the possibility of running on his ticket against a sitting Republican president? Depends on what your definition of is is, I suppose. I happen to think there is something very disturbing about McCain even toying with running on the other party's ticket against the man he lost to in the 2000 primary.

That said, I've been coming around on McCain, not out of enthusiasm, but out of contemplating the alternative. Hillary Clinton, for all of her flaws, at least is a known quantity. But the level of bubbly ignorance Obama brings to the table is simply chilling. Take this interview with his, as of yesterday, foreign policy adviser, for example. This woman is a journalist with zero credentials in foreign policy. But experience and credentials aside, it's clear that everyone around Obama -- from his wife to his foreign policy team -- loathes America and is quite vocal about expressing it.

Meanwhile, the AP reporter in this piece on McCain's conversation treats us to this predictable gem of editorializing at the end of the article:

McCain is known for having a temper and has been dubbed "Senator Hothead" by more than one publication.

The official 2008 meme of the Attack Poodle (AP) press is now firmly in place.