Great piece, Joe. The only thing I would add is, I think McCain always was a phony.

is completely rusted out. I think his recent decision to drive his Maverick into the murkier swamps of D.C. accelerated the rust that we had all be noticing since about 2000.

McCain's never had that much depth to him. Come on. The guy was something like 894th out of 899 in his class at Annapolis. Crashed multiple jets. Had a reputation as a troublemaker and a slacker. Getting shot down and tortured put the gloss of nobility on him, which he's been happy to exploit, all the while pretending he's too humble to make an issue of his life story. His whole political career is one long case of apophasis. "I'm not going to mention my experience in a POW camp to further my own ambitions..." He divorced his first wife and married a much younger, wealthy woman whose money and connections could provide a launching point for his political career.

Sure, he seemed more independent in 2000, but his response in the next election cycle to the Bushwhacking he received is instructive: he caved immediately to Bush's co-opting, sold out his friend Kerry, and provided political cover to Bush for his failed war policies during that Presidential election cycle.

McCain's fallen from where he was in 2000, but he hasn't fallen as far as it seems at first blush.

While everybody is furiously fulminating over at Joan Walsh's corner of the playground, I was just going to comment here and congratulate Mr. Conason on this post — with the caveat that I disagree with his first line. But Northman's said it all.

I am not sure he was every really Honorable. He was a member of the Keating 5, and as I recollect the only one to survive. I do not really understand how he survived. I think it was by seeming bi-partisan, when it did not really cost him anything.

The media adopted a narrative about John McCain long ago - he was the straight talking maverick and expert on foreign policy. Now they seem extremely reluctant to reexamine it, now matter how often he does things that contradict it. The challenge for Democrats in this campaign is going to be to force a change in that narrative and make people see what McCain has actually become.

Number of Americans killed on 9/11 = 2998.

Thank you, Osama bin Laden.

Number of Americans killed in Iraq = 4126.

Thank you, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Because like Ignatius, few are willing to blame McCain for anything him campaign does. So McCain will flog this trash til the convention, then pivot to substance and maybe have a token purging of a Steve Schmidt operative who crossed the line with some YouTube ad. Then the media will marvel at his Maverick-ness, just like they did each time before he got caught being bad.

You wont want to miss Billmon's post on this point:

• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/31/142834/892/240/560121

of the new and widespread dismay among journalists that McCain has "changed". No, he's always been the craven, do-anything-say-anything politician he is now. That's why he changes his positions and affiliations the way the rest of us change our underwear. I doubt he feels remorse for the tactics he's employing, despite the weird excuses and psychoanalyses from reporters who are scrounging for any sign from him that deep down, he's still the good, principled guy they thought he was in 2000. He clearly regards Obama with nothing but pure contempt, same level of contempt he held for Mitt Romney during the GOP primaries. Anyone who has the temerity to stand in his way becomes a personal enemy that must be disposed of, by any means possible. I find it laughable that anyone ascribed nobility, honor or principles to this man and his conduct over the last 8 years--he is as convictionless, cunning and opportunistic as they come in politics.

"For many of the journalists who regard John McCain as an unusually honorable politician, listening to his increasingly dishonorable campaign rhetoric is a painful and puzzling experience. They are openly wondering what has driven him to denigrate and even smear Barack Obama in a style more reminiscent of McCain's old enemies in his own party than the straight-talking maverick."

Yes, and it probably hurt to be told there was no Easter Bunny, too. Disillusionment can be painful but it's necessary when someone holds a ridiculous believe that never has been and never will be true. And Joe Conason should be ashamed of himself for using "straight talking maverick" without putting it in quotes, perpetuating the myth that McCain was ever anything other than a right wing con man.

McCain believes he was cheated out of the presidency in 2000, and that it is therefore now "owed" to him. Since this notion has taken on an air of almost "divine right" in his mind, anything done to further god's plan is permitted.

Talk about arrogant.

Wow!! The analysis in this piece is the most cogent I have seen or heard in the media. It seems so clear that McCain is the real shallow elitist in the campaign. I can't figure out why the mainstream press keeps buying the honorable baloney. He and his Republican Rovian ilk are so elitist they think they have a divine right to control the country and will say or do anything to maintain their power.

Thanks for your accurate and unfettered assessment of McCain's tainted path to attempted glory, but of course, your basically preaching to the choir.

Hopefully someone smart in the Obama camp will take the essence of your article, turn it into a 30 second musical ad filled with corn dogs wrapped in American flags and make your point clear to all those vote-clenching citizens who don't understand what us over-educated arugula eating elitists are talkin' about!

As many earlier commenters have noted, McCain has been a slimy sell-out since his Annapolis days.

Even ignoring the rumors about his capitulation to the North Vietnamese, McCain has a long, long record of despicable behavior.

The sloppy flying that destroyed at least three expensive planes during training.

The adultery against and abandonment of his first wife because she was disfigured in a car accident while loyally raising his family at home alone.

The Keating 5.

The standing by silently at best, cheerleading at worst, for republican policies that damaged and denigrated veterans and the military.

All that is well-known and hashed-over, at least in the blogosphere.

But that even Joe Conason would fall for the McCain myth and claim that today's slimy bastard is a "change," just shows how deep the media gullibility to repug storylines runs.