A Truly Craptacular Op-Ed From Fred Hiatt

In today's Washington Post, Fred Hiatt, like an abuse victim defending his abuser, excuses John McCain's campaign of smear, fear and hate, claiming that John really likes Obama. You see, it's not John's fault...it's "the  crazed intensity of a presidential campaign," it's the consultants, it's believing your own hype, but really, it's not the John McCain that Hiatt knows and loves. And what we must realize is that:

He's been running for president, more on than off, for almost a decade, but his determination hasn't had much to do with a highly defined ideology, program or set of policies. What underlies his ambition are values: service, patriotism, duty, honor.

Uh, Fred? You really need to learn to do "a google," because then you would know, in John McCain's own words, exactly why he wants to be the president:

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 great act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president.

So, Fred, you may want to rethink the entire premise of your op-ed. And while you're at it, you probably should rework the part about the "crazed intensity," because you make McCain sound really unhinged there...or not...since that is the only part of the column that's grounded in reality.