Straight Talk Express Crashes

GOP presumptive nominee John McCain has repeatedly criticized his Democratic counterpart for intentionally taking his "100 years" Iraq comment out of context. The endpoint for the argument is that such distortion goes against Barack Obama's persona as a "new" type of politician and marks him as just another partisan player. However, McCain, whose "Straight Talk Express" aims for the same persona, also engages in the type of political gamesmanship that smacks of hypocrisy.

Today, the Arizona senator revived "Bittergate," the controversy surrounding Obama's remarks during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. However, in doing so, McCain has badly misquoted Obama to the point of deceit. As CNN reports:

"In a town hall meeting in Philadelphia, McCain said he doesn’t agree that voters in the state 'cling to their religion and the Constitution because they are bitter. I am going to tell them that they have faith and they have trust and support the Constitution of the United States because they have optimism and hope and that is the strength of America.'

"McCain was referring to remarks Obama made before the state’s April 22 primary that decades of lost jobs and unfulfilled promises from Washington have left some Pennsylvanians "bitter" and clinging "to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.'"

McCain expands Obama's reference to guns into a condemnation of the entire U.S. Constitution, though the Democrat made no reference to the Constitution nor indicated any lack of "support" for it in his comments. This is a stunning and disappointing move on McCain's part that I frankly thought was beyond him. It's consistent with the ugly strategy of some Republican operatives to attempt to paint Obama as un-American or unpatriotic. There should be no tolerance for such tactics in American politics, but here it is. And McCain, of all people, is playing along. Maybe it's time to rechristen McCain's candidacy the "Straight Talking Points Express."