(1) McCain is just a typical politician consciously lying to pander for votes.

(2) McCain just got confused and forgot.

Which possibility is the more troubling of the two? Deceit? Or confusion?

McCain's campaign team seems to be pushing the confusion explanation. Looks like it will be a long four months for team McCain.

I wrote a diary about this the other day. Among other things, it highlights how out of touch McCain is that he dosn't realize it takes about 15 seconds to get busted for stuff like this in this day and age.

http://www.raisingkaine.com/sh...

Another reason why we know this story is total BS, BTW, is that the Steelers' defensive line in 1967 was, uh, oh, I don't know, but it wasn't the famous Steel Curtain of the 1970s, Greene, Greenwood, et al. to which he obviously is referencing. See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

But the main point is that this is the kind of gaffe that regularly sinks Democrats, and is seen as evidence that they are elitists out of touch with the so-called  "regular people" who love football, drink beer, wear t-shirts, etc.

So, yeah, this is good for a few yuks, but will the media make a big deal of it?

I'm not sure. On the one hand, the media hammers Democrats on this kind of thing because it fits their pre-conceived notion of one of the Democrat's weaknesses in national elections. They may not know what this story actually means for their pal, John McCain.

Will they report that he panders? Well, maybe, but it is not as if this is news to the national press corps. They know he panders. They just don't care.

On the other hand, I also think it is just a matter of time before some one of our incisive political pundit/analysts gets it in their head that this gaffe is the one that lost Pennsylvania for McCain, and hence the presidency.

I predict it will be Christ Matthews.

...I notice that, once again, McCain wasn't talking about his time as a P.O.W. because he doesn't like to talk about it (except when he does, which is pretty much all the time).

John McCain: A noun, a verb, and "have you heard that I was a War Hero(tm)?"

Does anyone see some irony here? John McCain advocates the use of torture against detainees in Guantanamo and elsewhere in order to extract crucial information to save lives. Except what interrogator would believe the information obtained this way? Would not the Iraqi equivalent of John McCain reveal the starting lineup for the Baghdad Bears instead of the names of al Qaeda leadership?

Thank you, John, for proving that torture doesn't work.