Straight Talk Distress

Okay, I admit it. I was suffering from a severe imagination deficit when I wrote on Wednesday: "I'm guessing [John McCain] won't be calling Falwell an 'agent of intolerance' this time around."

That was just four days ago, and already McCain has shown that he's not simply retiring his former opinion of Jerry Falwell; he's actively repudiating it. Clearly he's convinced continuing to be mean to Falwell will hurt him in the 2008 Republican primaries. From this morning's Meet the Press, according to Think Progress:

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.

Contrast this to what McCain said on Hardball in March, 2000, after he made his original comment about Falwell and Pat Robertson:

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.

Flip-flop much, John? Before you throw your hat officially into the ring, you may want to carefully think through the ramifications of cultivating that reputation.