Arianna Huffington has been taking a lot of heat from right wing circles for an entry in her latest book, The Right Is Wrong, where she says John McCain made a point of saying at a Hollywood party that he didn't vote for George Bush. Now honestly, considering what the Bush campaign did to him in 2000, I don't blame him. The problem is that he denies it now and says he did vote for Bush. That makes him a liar. He either lied to Arianna (and actors Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford back up Arianna's version) back then or he's lying now. Considering the trouncing Hillary Clinton rightfully got for her Bosnia story, I see no reason why this shouldn't speak to McCain's character and credibility as well.

Apparently loosey-goosey on a Friday afternoon and ready to start the weekend, Chris Matthews brings on radio talk show hosts Michael Smerconish and Ed Schultz to discuss the issue, but it's very clear that Matthews doesn't really think it is an issue and thinks that Arianna was in the wrong for revealing this:

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Matthews: All three of them (Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and Arianna Huffington) claim, say that they heard John McCain, back at a party at Candice Bergen's house, back I guess around the time of it or a little later, that he did not vote for President Bush in 2000. He now says that he did, but he isn't quite denying about what he said to those people. That may be a distinction without a difference, but what do you make of all this? Was he cozying up to the Hollywood crowd? [..]

Smerconish: [..] Let me ask you something: isn't this a violation of the "dinner code"? Isn't this like a hooker who gives up a john? Isn't there some impropriety here?

Matthews: I used to love...I used to love that rule that where you're out having fun with each other, you weren't sitting there with radios, you weren't quoting them, you weren't going to screw them in the morning. I mean, that's the world I like to live in, but I have learned everything you say can be used against you.

Wow. Just wow. So it's inappropriate to point out hypocrisy on the part of a man running for the highest office in the country, but it's perfectly fine to liken a woman to a hooker "giving up a john"? Nope, I can't imagine why people think you're the biggest misogynist on TV, Chris. But it gets better. Conservative Smerconish needs to spin this "I won't vote for you, but I'll embrace you and I'll carry your policies on into my presidency" stance into something that simultaneously reinforces the "Maverick" persona (gag) and distances him from the least popular and effective president in the history of the country. When lefty Ed Schultz doesn't play along, Matthews takes him to task.

Smerconish: Hey Chris, I would think no less of him if he didn't vote for Bush, given what the Bush folks put him through in the year 2000. If John McCain said, "Hell no, I didn't vote for him," I don't think any worse of the man. In fact, I think he's more of the maverick that I hope that he is.

Matthews: So you think this might be brilliant positioning. John McCain did not vote for George Bush. Headline.

Smerconish: Could be.

Matthews: [unclear]Put it on a bumpersticker. This will make him a better ...it's not four more years, it's a break with the past. This is the change you've been waiting for. His name is John McCain.

Schultz: He's still going to do Iraq the same way Bush did. He's still going to do Iraq the same way Bush did, so there's no change. That's what the American people are going to look at.

Matthews: God. Damn it. Damn it, Ed Schultz. Here it is, Friday afternoon, and I'm trying to have some fun and every time you talk like you're on National Public Radio. I don't want another somber, serious thought out of you in the next 3 seconds, okay? My God, I'm talking about the most inconsequential story in the world and you're turning it into something like "This is Washington, the nation's capitol". Look, let me get back to someone who knows what a sense of humor is. Michael Smerconish, isn't it funny that John McCain at the very moment he's trying to prove his lovey dovey connections to George Bush gets outed as the guy who was bragging about voting against him? I think it's pretty funny.

Smerconish: I think it's hysterical and the net effect is that it helps John McCain and I think those who are spinning it are thinking it bodes poorly for him. It doesn't. And if two people go out and have a cocktail and talk politics, it's off limits. That's the way it ought to be.

The most inconsequential story in the world? But Farrakhan, Wright and Ayers, those were serious issues of character. An affair with an of age intern, that was enough to take down a presidency. The tone of one's laugh and the irrational fear of castration is enough to cause people not to vote a candidate. But holding tight to the policies of a president that you could not bring yourself to vote for, that's nothing. Ah....the McCain Media Man Love strikes again.