POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON
As a kid growing up in Oklahoma, we had a derisive term for those who lacked the courage to trash you to your face: Gutless wonder.
The moniker came to mind watching the second round of this year's presidential debates.
John McCain touts himself as the Straight-Talk Express, unabashadely speaking unpopular truths to power. But he weaseled out when given a nationally-televised platform to say to Barack Obama's face what Sarah Palin and other McCain surrogates have been spewing behind Obama's back.
The once-principled McCain -- who was himself victim of scurrilous George W. Bush rumor-mongering in the 2000 GOP primary -- is now employing those Rovian, Atwateresque attacks against Obama, a desperate act aimed at salvaging a sinking campaign.
Yet McCain doesn't have the courage to drop the gloves and deliver the punches himself, hiding instead behind a self-styled Hockey Mom who hopes to trigger a bench-clearing brawl that diverts attention from the serious issues America must confront.
McCain faces a dispiriting truth: He alone is responsible for sullying his reputation as an American Hero, a straight-talker and an anti-politician.
Perhaps such heat-of-the-moment gutter tactics will be forgiven eventually. But even if he manages to win the election, he's lost the most important battle. He's lost his soul.
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