by Jane Hamsher [courtesy of Firedoglake]

Commenter cinnamonape: : "Lost his bearings?" Now we know why McCain almost flunked out of Annapolis. How can a third-generation Navy man not know that this is a NAVAL TERM that means an individual has lost sight of their navigational standards. It has nothing to do with AGE…Navy men and those that used this slogan were ALWAYS referring to people who had become sidetracked away from their presumed course. Young captains could “lose their bearings” as well as old ones.

Sad that McCain doesn’t even know Naval Terminology!

by Trapper John [courtesy of Daily Kos]

It's hard to say which perception McCain fears worst: being seen as yesterday's man -- a man of the last century -- or being seen as a shameless toady who sold his "maverick" soul for a bloated, stinking elephant carcass:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that Republican John McCain was "losing his bearings" for repeatedly suggesting the Islamic terrorist group Hamas preferred Obama for president.

. . .

"This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain always says, 'Well, I'm not going to run that kind of politics,'" Obama said. "And then to engage in that kind of smear, I think, is unfortunate, particularly since my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."

The Illinois senator added: "For him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don't need name-calling in this debate."

McCain's campaign issued an angry response that accused Obama of trying to divert attention from a legitimate question by raising McCain's age.

"He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not-particularly-clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue," McCain adviser Mark Salter said.

Really?  Seems that the McCain campaign is stuck between a rock and a hard place here.  

by Matt Stoller [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

by Cliff Schecter [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

McCain got a story killed in a large newspaper in the UK about my book. Here is an email from the reporter providing me with the details of his campaign's attack on my character.

by Arianna Huffington [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

The way the McCain camp has reacted to my revelation about his not voting for Bush in 2000, immediately moving into kill-the-messenger mode, is further confirmation of what has happened to McCain -- now willing to say or do anything, or sling mud at anyone, to satisfy his hunger for the White House. And I'm curious: at exactly what point did Mark Salter decide I was "a flake, and a poser, and an attention seeking diva"? Was it before or after I hosted a book party at my home for the book he co-wrote with McCain, Faith of My Fathers? READ MOREPreviously: Arianna Huffington: What John McCain Told Me, and What it Says About How Far He's Fallen [Updated]

by Matt Stoller [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

by Jane Hamsher [courtesy of Firedoglake]

(Please welcome Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain in the comments -- jh)Cliff Schecter has long been the progressive's dream -- capable of going on Fox news without losing his cool or getting pwnd by some lame Republican, arguing from the Democratic side with intelligence, succinctness and passion. But with the publication of his new book, The Real McCain, he's got John McCain on the run.Watch the YouTube attached

by DHinMI [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Yesterday the Washington Post ran a long, detailed and damning article about John McCain and his notorious temper.  The Post's own polling shows that many voters, including almost half of independents, believe that McCain's temperament would hurt his effectiveness.

McCain's longtime aide and co-author Mark Salter wrote a long email to the National Journal's Ramesh Ponnuru after even Ponnuru wrote in the conservative magazine that the article might be a problem for even conservative McCain supporters.  Salter did a couple interesting things in his email.  He tried to confuse readers by changing the subject:

... I personally know 20 or 25 Senators with much worse tempers. He argues, sometimes heatedly, with his peers, but he doesn't hold grudges or pick on people subordinate to him. If you want to tell what members of Congress have ungovernable tempers, you need only look at how rapidly their staffs turnover. As a twenty-year veteran Hill staffer, I can assure you that is the best indicator of which members have bad tempers. McCain's staff serve tenures well beyond the norm, because they are treated exceedingly well by him.

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by Greg Mitchell [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

While the cover story on Chris Matthews has already drawn attention, this coming New York Times Magazine Q&A with tax-cut guru Grover Norquist should not be overlooked.