What the Hell is Going on with John McCain?

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain often gets credit for being a maverick, a man willing to cut through the crap to get to the heart of an important issue regardless of party lines. He's made it rather clear at times that he thinks George Bush has mismanaged the war - and more. At times, in fact, he's seemed to ridicule the president.

So why now is John stepping up to be used as the whore d'jour of the GOP propaganda machine, appearing with Bush, spewing out the exact rhetoric he'd mocked more than once, to help Bush get re-elected. It's not like the cast of characters in ReElect Bush have changed. Karl Rove, the man who set out to destroy competitor McCain during the 2000 GOP primaries, is right there.

As I wrote yesterday, that's why I was very concerned to see any discussion of putting up McCain as the Democratic VP pick. McCain has pulled this kind of thing before, and it negates - at least to reasoning people - his reputation as someone to whom his constituents matter more than politics. But I also think most of the talk about McCain was orchestrated by McCain himself. I don't remember John Kerry heralding him. Shy of evidence to the contrary, I think McCain initiated much of this and then used it to buy something from the Bushies.