MCCAIN'S NAGGING PROBLEM

It was hilarious to see the ineptly launched smear campaign by the New York Times last week on John McCain. Gee, they only had 8 years to work on the story and it was a total dud.

Unfortunately, this may not be the last such story and the next one might pack some punch. John McCain is an absolutely fearless warrior, and any attempts to link him to financial wrongdoing are garbage. The so-called Keating 5 was really the Keating 4. The Democrats in charge of the Senate at the time insisted on including McCain in the investigation for which he was totally exonerated, just to provide some bi-partisan cover.

That said, though, McCain's personal life has been pretty shabby. As a young naval officer his passion was fast cars, lots of liquor, and plenty of young women. His first wife left another man for him, but he was never faithful to her. He dumped her after he returned from Vietnam because she was in poor physical shape from a car wreck. After his second marriage in 1979, there were still many reports of bad behavior, including the infamous incident in 1984 of pawing at an attractive woman in the back seat of Duncan Hunter's car (while Hunter and an aid were in the front seat).

Washington insiders have plenty of other tales on this score. It will just be a matter of time before this all starts coming out. Whether this can all be proved is the question. So far, no woman save the one from 1984 who filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics committee has ever come forward. (It was dismissed)

But it's a long way until November or even September when the Republican convention meets, and that's no doubt why Mike Huckabee is in no hurry to quit a race he apparently already lost.