If a team of geniuses sat down to design a man who should never be President of the United States they would come up with John McCain. Fortunately the character flaws that make him unfit for the Oval Office also put that office well beyond his reach. Sometimes the universe really does unfold as it should.

McCain considers himself a conservative and any number of his apologists are eager to cite his support for military action in our "war on terror" and his predominantly pro—life and conservative voting record. Nevertheless, many conservative Republicans loathe him and there's a reason for this antipathy.

McCain is a moral exhibitionist. The principal goal of all his public acts is to showcase his exquisite decency. His only apparent ideology is sanctimonious self—congratulation. Consider, for example, his approach to the two defining issues of his career, campaign finance "reform," and the al Qaeda bill of rights.

McCain repaired his reputation after the "Keating Five" scandal