I am currently working on a post about attitudes and behaviors in regards to the presidential campaign (and politics in general). I came across this article, courtesy of Crooks and Liars, and my draft has to take the back seat.

What caught my eye was this:

When then-Gov. Bush called upon Eskew, Tompkins and Rhodes to help him during the Florida recount, a senior McCain adviser told me that “when the going gets tough for Governor Bush, he turns to the darker side of our party. We saw that in South Carolina, and we see that today.”

Eight years later, with a tough fight of his own, McCain has turned to one of the same men. Asked if the McCain campaign would have a comment about hiring one of the South Carolina strategists the senator and his 2000 campaign team once held responsible for smears against him, McCain 2008 spokesman Brian Rogers emailed, “No.”

The going gets tough, McCain hires the same people he condemned to hell. This is not integrity and honor, this is desperation and Rove-tactics. If McCain really wanted to keep the campaign above board, would he have hired the same smear merchants who sank his 2000 campaign? Has Republican RealPolitik replaced his Maverick sensibilities.

Ed Brubaker asked in a tweet, “Has MINO been coined for McCain yet? Maverick In Name Only.” With this recent addition to his campaign, I believe McCain has provided the best evidence to date that he has no longer the Maverick he claimed to be.