Washington, Sept. 17 : Republican presidential nominee John McCain does have an ugly and untruthful side to him, and according to a op-ed in the Washington Post, it has surfaced off and on since his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary.

Then, McCain confessed to lying about how he felt about the Confederate battle flag, which he actually abhorred.

"I broke my promise to always tell the truth," McCain said. Now he has broken that promise so completely that the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.

Last week, one of the co-hosts of a FOX News interview, Joy Behar, took McCain to task on the program titled “The View” for some of the ads his campaign has been running.

One deliberately mischaracterized what Barack Obama had said about putting lipstick on a pig -- an Americanism

"We know that those two ads are untrue," Behar said. "They are lies."

"Actually, they are not lies," he said.

Actually, they are.

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains -- his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that''''s all -- but just as honorably. No more, though.

His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir -- the person in whose hands he would leave the country -- is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for.

Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president.

McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.

At a forum last week at Columbia University, McCain said, "But right now we have to restore trust and confidence in government." This was always the promise of John McCain, the single best reason to vote for him. America has been cheated on too many times -- the lies of Vietnam and Watergate and Iraq. So many lies. (ANI)