Price of Power: McCain accepts ex-Swift Boaters' donations

WASHINGTON — Republican John McCain, who four years ago condemned independent ads challenging Democrat John Kerry's military record, has accepted nearly $70,000 for his presidential campaign from the top donors of the group behind the attack ads and their relatives, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

www.usatoday.com...

Add this latest flip flop to the list... wow it really takes a lot to get to power when this man for which I had a lot of respect has virtually sold his character for a grip of power. Maybe he got tired of try to get htere the right way amd learned that if you want to get there you have to play the game, still says a lot about him.

Says a lot about who is in charge of the Republican campaigning. "John, if you want to be serious about being president, you have to quit this maverick, straight talk stuff. After all, you weren't our first choice, but you're here now, and now you're playing in the big leagues, and this is how the game is played."

Instead of being in the saddle, McCain is saddled with a party that, for all its talk of religion, family values and patriotism, has associated itself with dirty tricks. If you can't beat 'em, beat them up. From the 1972 Watergate burglars onward to Karl Rove, the party has built campaigns around "stealth" (i.e. deceptive) candidates at the local level, to deception and illegality (NH 2002 Senate race) at the Washington level. They are by far and away the master of this.

So it doesn't surprise me that McCain will have to make personal ethical choices in his race. He might even rationalize it as being good for the country in the end, but he will finish the race a broken man.