The real McCoy

At long last, the Times publishes the story that got ol' John so worked up on the plane a couple of weeks ago, inexplicably lashing out at Elizabeth Bumiller. The two events that most clearly position McCain as a "maverick," and makes him so appealing to Dems -- his flirtation with crossing the aisle in 2001 and his even more coy flirtation with John Kerry in 2004 -- are really less about policy differences with his fellow Republicans then they are moments of fine pique with Bush and his party. It wasn't intellectual rigor, it was a bruised ego.