Honor Won and Lost (Joe Conason)

Nothing in the presidential campaign so far has been as instructive as its swift descent into the politics of personal destruction. Although voters have probably heard little lately that they did not already know about Sen. Barack Obama, they have learned something very important about Sen. John McCain. Back when this contest began, McCain expressed the desire for a different kind of campaign than we have seen in recent years. Rather than the old style of character-assassination politics perfected by his former nemesis Karl Rove to defeat him, Al Gore and John Kerry, the Arizona Republican urged a substantive debate and a fair comparison of public careers. He invited Mr. Obama to join him in a series of town hall meetings to discuss their competing visions of the nation's future. He hoped to run "a respectful campaign focused... [read full story]