McCain in Flippity-Floppity Land

It's official. John McCain, the man who desperately wants the presidency, was on Press the Meat today and retracted his statement that Jerry Falwell is 'intolerant.' In spite of his earlier declaration that he would never retract it. Hey, just because a guy thinks that every last human being on earth who isn't a fundamentalist Christian should be denied their civil rights in life and then roast in hell for eternity doesn't mean he's intolerant. Just choosy. A connoisseur of souls, if you will. God's actuary.

Back in 2000, when McCain was asked whether he stood by his description of Falwell, he said, “I must not and will not retract anything that I said in that speech at Virginia Beach. It was carefully crafted, it was carefully thought out.” (Hardball, 3/1/00)

RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?

MCCAIN: No, I don't. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain to you his views on this program when you have him on.

"Man, what was I thinking running on that whole integrity thing? Sheesh." Hopefully the Democrats had their Tivos running. Stringing together clips of McCain's initial statement, his Hardball quote backing up the statement, and his recent change of mind would be a great weapon to have in a campaign arsenal. Of course, using the clip of a tuxedo-clad Bush referring to "the haves and the have mores" as his base would've been nice, too.