Leave It Alone

Dean Barnett thinks the cross in the dirt wild goose chase betrays a sense of panic among Obamaphiles:

By all means, let’s focus more attention on McCain’s stint at the Hanoi Hilton. Maybe the Obama campaign will offer up as a counterpoint Obama’s supremely courageous opposition to the Iraq War while on the front lines of the Illinois state legislature. And by all means, let’s have the left continue its campaign to minimize McCain’s service in Vietnam. That should work wonders for Obama!

Megan is similarly puzzled:

The only way this would actually hurt McCain is if you found a signed letter from him saying that this never happened. Since it's very unlikely that such a letter exists, the very best that this effort will achieve is sowing seeds of doubt in a few minds, making themselves look desperate to almost everyone else (and thereby making people wonder what's wrong with Obama, that they're this desperate), and outraging a number of people that you would call McCain's honor into question with absolutely no evidence, or hope of obtaining [some].

Sure: theres no political paydirt here and a lot of backlash. But I'm a blogger and I'm curious. And, pace Dean, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence that this anecdote was embellished by Mark Salter for effect. It never occurred to me to question this story until I looked into it. Now it tugs. As for it being spin in the campaign after McCain's Saddleback triumph, since I haven't questioned the strength of McCain's performance, I don't see why I should now be trying to undermine it.

But the compromises McCain has made in his pursuit of power strike me as central to this election. And I'll follow these leads wherever they lead, even if they lead nowhere.