No candidate has felt this tension so keenly, or written about it as movingly, as McCain. In his memoir “Worth the Fighting For,” McCain describes the sickening sensation of renouncing his views about the Confederate flag to curry favor with South Carolina voters in 2000 — “reading it as if I were making a hostage statement.” He wrote that his “theatrics” were designed to “telegraph reporters that . . . political imperatives required a little evasiveness on my part. I wanted them to think me still an honest man, who simply had to cut a corner a little here and there so that I could go on to be an honest president.”

Sitting on the couch with the women of “The View” last week, McCain offered a litany of excuses for his conduct this time around: Obama’s ads are hard-hitting, too. The tone wouldn’t be so negative if Obama had agreed to more debates. McCain’s own lipstick comment was different because he was referring to health care. You had to wonder: Are there any corners left for McCain? Is there any reason to trust that a man running this campaign would go on to be an honest president?