I keep hearing about this fellow, but we haven't seen much of him the past few years: this man who stands on principle; this man who will fight his own party when he thinks it's the right thing to do.

We got a glimpse of him, that mythical maverick, the other day, correcting a woman who believes that Obama is 'an Arab', and a man who believes it would be a fearful thing for Obama to be president.

Where would people get such ideas? And how could they hold to them, week after week, as McCain and Palin hold rally after rally, in which they could, one would think, correct such misapprehensions.

But instead, they feed them, they encourage them, they elaborate upon them.

I am left with two possibilites:

1. John McCain is an honorable man, but a weak man; too weak to stand against his own vice presidential pick and the worst elements of his own party (those agents of intolerance); too weak to run his own campaign by his own standards.
2. John McCain is a dishonorable man, willing to abandon even his most cherished values to win an election; a man who may prefer losing an election to losing a war, but one who also prefers losing his soul to losing an election.

Imagine, though -- imagine if the honorable John McCain were to show up at the debate on Wednesday. What might that look like?

~-~

My friends, I am going to ignore those lights there, because I have something very important to say to the American people, something far more important than the rules we have set for this debate.

My friends, I need to apologize to you, for allowing my campaign to sink into the sewer. We have lied and distorted Senator Obama's record and biography. We have elicited fear and hatred, and we have done so deliberately. This tactic to frighten people into voting for me -- against Senator Obama -- was not only ineffective, it was dishonorable.

I promise you, tonight, that this has ended. Before I came on stage this evening, I fired my entire campaign staff; there will be no more sleazy accusations. I will be returning to the campaign trail with a new staff and a new committment to straight talk.

Let me be clear: Senator Obama is not an Arab, nor is he Muslim -- though neither of these are bad things. Senator Obama is not a terrorist, nor does he 'pal around' with terrorists. Senator Obama does not endorse infanticide. Senator Obama is, in fact, a citizen of this country, a patriot, and a Christian family man. He will be, should you choose to elect him, a good and honorable president.

He is, however, a man with whom I disagree on many political and economic policies. In the coming weeks, I will be talking more about those disagreements, so that you, my friends, can have a clear idea of where we stand on the issues important to you.

My friends, one more thing. I am not going to speak, tonight or at any other time, of Governor Palin's qualifications to be vice president or president of our country. But I confess to you, in all honesty, that this was not what I was thinking of when I chose her. I chose her because I thought she might help me win.

If you choose to vote for Senator Obama instead of me because of this shameful period in my campaign, I can certainly understand that; and I commit, tonight, that should Senator Obama win this election, I will do everything in my power as a Senator to help him successfully govern this country and guide us through the challenges we face.

My friends, I hope you will forgive me for breaking my promise to you to run a respectful campaign. I do not know if I will be able to forgive myself.

~-~

Ah, well. One can dream...