Every day, it seems, I read another liberal complaining that McCain has proven himself to be a much worse character than he had ever previously thought. Today John Judis is hyperventilating about McCain’s gambit this week: “That’s a long way of saying that it is simply unpatriotic–it’s an insult to flag, country, and all the things that McCain claims to hold dear–for McCain to hold this financial crisis hostage to his political ambitions.” James Fallows wrote in the same vein earlier this week, adopting the same undefended assumption that McCain cannot possibly have honorable motives. Before that, McCain lost the support of Elizabeth Drew.

Is it remotely plausible that any of these liberals would have supported McCain over a liberal Democrat? No. Maybe McCain really has shown himself to be much more conservative, or less honorable, than they had previously suspected. Or perhaps liberals who used to praise McCain in grand terms now have a guilty conscience about opposing him and therefore have to exaggerate his flaws. (Or both!)