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Straight talk
John McCain was for bipartisanship before he was against it
I'm not interested in partisanship that serves no other purpose than to gain a temporary advantage over our opponents. This mindless, paralyzing rancor must come to an end. We belong to different parties, not different countries. We are rivals for the same power. But we are also compatriots. We are fellow Americans, and that shared distinction means more to me than any other association.
-- John McCain speaking at 10 a..m. today in Columbus, Ohio.
Senator John McCain, who has been critical of President Bush on the environment and other policies this week, on Thursday morning wholeheartedly endorsed Mr. Bush's veiled rebuke in the Israeli Knesset of Senator Barack Obama that talking to "terrorists and radicals'' was no different than appeasing Hitler and the Nazis.
"Yes, there have been appeasers in the past, and the president is exactly right, and one of them is Neville Chamberlain,'' Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign bus after a speech in Columbus, Ohio.
So apparently McCain was against mindless bipartisanship and bashing compatriots before he was for it -- or before his boss opened his mouth halfway around the world. It's easy to be against "paralyzing rancor" until you're confronted with an actual case of it.