From TPM Reader JB …
Although your Republican friend suggests going after McCain for the sand in the cross story, denying this claim is impossible and turns quickly into a he said – she said issue. A surrogate may question its validity, but I think that puts us in shrill Ann Coulter territory and will make some people wonder why we are picking on him for his most vulnerable period when he was a hero.
That said, I think McCain’s cross in the sand story should be used as a point of positive comparison to now. In fact, it can be used to neutralize his POW sainthood. Someone needs to compare working with the Rove proteges to working with the Vietnamese torturers. The construction can go like this: John McCain said that Karl Rove deserves a special place in hell for the false accusations against him in South Carolina. I think this place in hell also holds his Vietnamese torturers and, in fact, anyone who uses tortures. Well, John McCain is now working with Karl Rove’s people to get elected. The very same people who slandered him. I guess he would work with anyone, maybe even his Vietnamese torturers to get elected. We should judge a man by the company he keeps when times are tough. Like John Mcain and the ones who should be in a special place in hell.
I’ve actually had a similar thought. But I came at it a bit differently. McCain is always talking about victory and never surrendering. Andrew Sullivan said a few days ago that McCain has a penchant for underdogs. But I see it a little differently. Bush and Rove gave McCain the biggest political lashing of his life. He was sullen for a while, tried to fight them. But after a while he could it wasn’t going to be easy. So he decided to join up with them.
