When I started the NeoPolitics series, I wanted to capture the nature of the man who'd be president.  However, as Ariana Huffington has observed, there are really two John McCains in the race today - one, the amiable dirty jokester, the Senate-floor brawler who reached across the aisle and the other - the dirty trickster manufactured by The Rove Campaign Machine.  

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As these persona morph into the single candidate, it's become increasingly difficult to separate the two - so I'm forced to leave it to the reader to sort out who's who here.

o Quick Draw John: former NSC counter-terrorism advisor, Richard Clarke, stated unequivocally that McCain was pushing for a war with Iraq before the Bush administration made its decision to invade:

 "Senator McCain had already decided - he and his neoconservative foreign policy types that he agreed with are one of the reasons that George W. Bush decided to go to Iraq."

When asked if such statements weren’t a violation of Obama’s clean-campaign rules, Clarke retorted, "I'm sure he [McCain] loves his country. It's just that loving your country and lying to the American people are apparently not inconsistent in his view."

o Tainted Money Redux: the Obama campaign is set to debut a tough new ad in Georgia linking his McSame to Ralph Reed and the Christian Coalition leader's involvement in a notorious Washington lobbying scandal.

The McCain camp’s defense? They immediately shot back by criticizing Obama's association with a 1960s radical who they labeled "unrepentant terrorist."

Obama’s TV spot also questions McCain's decision not to call Reed to testify before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which was investigating Abramoff - McCain was committee chairman at the time.

o Smokin’ Joe Lieberman: can’t stick a fork in him yet - even though the NRA gave him an F; he‘s endorsed by abortion and gay rights advocates; and, in addition to being Al Gore’s former running mate, he remains a registered Democrat!

Rush, who says he "really likes Joe", is going bonkers trying to figure out how to derail the idea. He notes that McCain won’t react well to overt pressure from Righties: "McCain is 71 years old. He's who he is, and his personality is what it is, and you don't get in McCain's face and say, 'Don't do that. That's a dumb thing to do.'"

Even Chris Healey, the CT GOP Chair, admits he also “really likes Joe, but…”

o Bay Windows reports: “A Harris Poll survey released Aug. 19 confirms the expected: Most LGBT voters -- 68 percent -- favor Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over Republican John McCain.

“But there were some surprises.

“First, 10 percent of LGBT voters appear to be backing McCain - who is widely considered one of the most pro-gay Republican presidential candidates in history. He has twice voted against a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and spoken against it on the floor of the Senate. And he has had cordial relations with Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay Republican group…”

o Who’s Rich? Dept: are you rich when you can’t remember how many homes you own? Responding to a Politico reporter’s question, McCain said he “was uncertain” how many houses he and Cindy own.

“I think… I'll have my staff get to you… It's condominiums where… I'll have them get to you."

The answer is: 10 - worth an estimated $13,823,269. Don’t ask about locations - John’s mumbling would sound elite.

o The American Dream: McCain talks the American dream and questions Obama's authenticity as an American?  "The American Dream is belief in the freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States to achieve their goals in life through hard work." Who’s the better example - McCain or Obama?

o Conscription: in his Las Cruces town meeting, McSame agreed with a questioner that the Draft should be reinstated if want to have anyone left “to chase Bin Laden to the gates of Hell.”

Don’t get upset or begin worrying about your sons and daughters yet - it’s pretty clear John was “just pandering” again.

o Conservatives Blast Corsi: while McCain says, "Ya gotta have a sense of humor," traditional Conservatives are speaking out most un-humorously

Peter Wehner: "Conservatism has been an intellectual home to people like Burke and Buckley. The GOP is the party that gave us Lincoln and Reagan. It seems to me that its leaders ought to make it clear that they find what Dr. Corsi is doing to be both wrong and repellent. To have their movement and their party associated with such a figure would be a terrible thing and it will only help the cause of those who hold both the GOP and the conservative movement in contempt."

Ross Douthat: "It isn't just that Corsi himself is a conspiracy theorist and a crank, or that his best-selling farrago of innuendo and outright smears exemplifies everything that's wrong with a certain sort of right-wing publishing, or that David Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama demonstrates that it's perfectly possible to write an anti-Obama book without descending into the fever swamps. It's that this is an election where conservatives need to be very, very conscious about the importance of line-drawing… conservatives need to be very clear about where the line actually is, and what sort of attacks are actually beyond the pale and worth condemning."

Jon Henke: “On the Right, in particular, the 'go along to get along' approach has created a Movement where the bad guys are protected, and the people who get promoted are those who make friends, not waves… The continued tolerance and prominence of Jerome Corsi -- his books, columns and appearances is embarrassing for the Right, embarrassing for Republicans, embarrassing for conservatives and libertarians, embarrassing for all of us."

John Hawkins: "There is one enormous problem with Jerome Corsi: he's a habitually dishonest buffoon who will say absolutely anything to make a buck. He's the Right's Michael Moore, except that Michael Moore has much more talent -- and certain boundaries beyond which, even he won't go."