will the real john mccain stand up?

John McCain likes to be seen as the straight-talking politician. And sometimes he says things that are good to hear. For example, he told a journalist he would "never" use a signing statement; McCain elaborated, "Never, never, never, never. If I disagree with a law that passed, I'll veto it." (Obama and Clinton reserved the right, although both said they would not do it to the extent and in the way that de facto President Bush has.)

Admirable. But then McCain has ALSO told a journalist on ABC that if elected he would NOT raise taxes, period. No matter what, Senator McCain?

What happened to the guy who in 2001 and 2003 and 2004 criticized Bush's tax cuts because they "go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief"?

Answer: he's gone at least for the moment, as he panders to the far right of the GOP to convince them he is an acceptable candidate.

This doesn't make McCain unique as a politician. But it does mean he doesn't get to keep his self-proclaimed "straight talk" mantle, tarnished anyway by his Keating 5 membership and the fact that he may have been boffing a female lobbyist...