John McCain operative Steve Schmidt appears to be telling our Rich Lowry that McCain did not say what John Fund reported because McCain was a warrior in getting Sam Alito confirmed. But here’s the relevant excerpt from Fund’s piece:

Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because “he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.”

So, the questions are, did McCain say this or not (Fund can help us with this), and although he worked as a senator in support of the Alito nomination, would McCain as president have nominated Alito (McCain can help us by answering this)?

UPDATE: I see Rich beat me to the punch re my second question.