Straightening Out McCain's Straight Talk

felt as though I were in a time machine as I listened to John McCain's aides detail how to run against Barack Obama. I could have been on the phone with Bush aides in 2000 talking about McCain: He survives on the strength of his rhetoric; the press that follows him each day doesn't challenge him but serves merely to record his historic rise; the standards of coverage for the two candidates are different.

Tuesday brought more frustration for Team McCain. A carefully planned two-week rollout of the candidate's energy plan was in danger before he'd given the kickoff speech. The message was supposed to be that McCain was offering a multifaceted plan to wean the U.S. off foreign oil. Among his proposals was an unartful call to end the federal ban on offshore drilling—a reversal of his position in 2000. But instead of talking about biofuels and hydroelectric cars, the campaign found itself fighting charges of flip-flopping opportunism.