Is John McCain Afraid? It Depends.

Beldar asks a valid question of John McCain.

To Sen. John McCain: Although you were far from my first choice as the GOP nominee, I've spent hundreds of hours working on your campaign's behalf, as have many others who were thrilled by your selection of Gov. Palin as your running mate.

I never thought I would have cause to label you, of all people, as a coward or dishonorable. You're acting in a cowardly and dishonorable fashion, however, by permitting people identified with your campaign to make these anonymous attacks on Gov. Palin. Identify them. Make them famous. If what they say is true, then make them back it up. If it is not — and I believe it is not — then expose them as liars so that no GOP politician will ever again dare hire these sniveling worms. They have no honor, but they are besmirching yours.

This is same person who went out of his way to condemn people who used Obama’s middle name. And now he stands by while unnamed aides smear Sarah Palin.

McCain has always cared about his image. He admits his cockiness as a fighter pilot and even as prisoner was parts a pose. He had an image of himself as a hero and worked to maintain that image even as he was being tortured in prison in Viet Nam.

His “maverick” image was part pose to show the media that he was an independent; a Gary Cooper type who stood alone against the odds.

His campaign was a reflection of his self-image as a man above the fray. He was not going to invoke Reverend Wright because it would have brought down on his head the approval of all those people whose approval he wanted, desperately above all else.

In the end they didn’t care enough about him. So now, on his way back to the Senate, he seeks to regain the “maverick” title. But the media’s maverick can’t very well support the media’s devil du jour.

So Sarah Palin will not get “The Maverick” to stick up for her as she stood up for him. There may be worse things than being tortured by the Vietnamese. Apparently the MSM is far more frightful.