Cohen: McCain is a joke

Richard Cohen, erstwhile McCain supporter, argues that the Arizona senator has changed:

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains -- his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that's all -- but just as honorably. No more, though.

Maybe. I'm more partial to the idea that McCain has always been an opportunist, and that the wild swings in his positions--smothered in paeans to service and honor--had come to look to some like an honest man's willingness to break with the party.

Whatever the truth, though, pundits are falling out of line. And whether that's because he's changed, or because he'd pulled the wool over their eyes, those who were once sympathetic to the idea that McCain was an honorable man are now feeling duped--and therefore angrier about his campaign than they would feel if McCain was, say, Mitt Romney.

And it's about time.