From McCain's book Worth the Fighting For:
"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to become president because it had become my ambition to be president. I was 62 years old when I made the decision, and I thought it was my one shot at the prize...
"In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time... it had been there, in the back of my mind, for years, as if it were simply a symptom of my natural restlessness."
- John McCain
LINK
Here's McCain's voice from the audio version of the book, cleverly juxtaposed with his Saddleback forum comments:
I would like to see this quote for McCain's book get a bit more play.
And if the quote on its face is not damning enough, Chris Brown gives some good context at his blog:
Chris Brown's blog
Remembering John McCain's Presidential Ambition
Added by Chris Brown on Sep 13, 2008
Relates to: John McCain
As the Presidential election moves into the final stretch, we see McCain portraying himself as the new “candidate of change” or the guy who’s always put his “Country First”. Of course, it’s seemingly easy for misinformed voters to be misled by such political craftsmanship. Contrary to his campaign slogan and repetitive mantra, John McCain has not always put his “Country First”. In 2002, McCain released a book called “Worth the Fighting For”. In the book, he offers reflections of his life; in particular, his political career. McCain released the book after he lost to then Gov. George. W. Bush in the 2000 Republican Presidential primary. Here’s an excerpt:
"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."
Here’s a simple question: If McCain confesses he wasn’t running for the political reforms he “believed in” or to campaign as some “grand act of patriotism” back in 2000, then why should we believe his current Presidential run isn’t for the same exact reason – all about his ambition to be President? Why should we believe that 8 years later it's somehow different?
McCain offers this insight about himself in the book:
"Although I seem to tolerate introspection better the older I am, there are still too many claims on my attention to permit more than the briefest excursions down the path of self-awareness. When I am no longer busy with politics, and with my own ambitions, I hope to have more time to examine what I have done and failed to do with my career, and why."
During the 2000 Republican Presidential primary, McCain talked about “reforming Washington”. McCain often said he’d “take on the lobbyists” which corrupted Washington. And of course, many Americans believed him. But sadly, they discovered in 2002 that McCain didn’t honestly run for any of those reasons. By McCain’s admission, he didn’t want to be President because of any true political reforms he purportedly believed in. Simply put, McCain’s 2000 Presidential campaign turned out to be a sham and a farce. It was all a stunt to help get him elected President.
Now, here we are in the 2008 Presidential election. It’s the same man repeating the same words from 2000. In short, there’s no psycho-babble needed to understand McCain. He’s eagerly abandoning his integrity and core principles just to get elected. His objective remains the same. He’ll purposefully say or do whatever it takes to fulfill his ambition to be President. Today, McCain is masquerading as a “reformer” and “maverick” that will always “put his country first”. But let’s be clear. He was a liar and fraud then – and he’s a liar and fraud now..
He that deceives me once, it is his faul[t]; if twice, it is mine. [1659 N. R. Proverbs 54]
More on McCain's ambition from an article about him in the Aug. 1, 2008 Washington Post by Robert G. Kaiser:
Within months of delivering that commencement address, McCain was running for president for the first time, and violating his own credo. After losing the 2000 Republican presidential nomination , McCain and Salter wrote "Worth the Fighting For" (the title is taken from a line of Robert Jordan's in the Hemingway novel ), which gave McCain an opportunity to confess his shortcomings:
"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."
That ambition led McCain into a moral lapse that appalled him. It involved an ongoing dispute in South Carolina over the tradition of flying the Confederate battle flag atop the state capitol, in Columbia. In a television interview, McCain said the flag was "offensive," and he appeared sympathetic to its critics. His aides were alarmed, fearing the consequences in the upcoming South Carolina primary, and they wrote a damage-control statement that McCain read repeatedly before television cameras. "I understand both sides," McCain said. "Some view the flag as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage. Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage."
But that, McCain wrote a year later, was "a lie." The flag symbolized both slavery and the South's secession from "the country I love," and "should be lowered forever from the staff atop South Carolina's capitol."
"I had promised to tell the truth no matter what," McCain wrote in the book. "When I broke it, I had not just been dishonest, I had been a coward, and I had severed my own interests from my country's. That was what made the lie unforgivable."