THE REAL McCAIN & THE VERY RIGHT BUT STILL WRONG DAVID BROOKS

If there's one area above all else where David Brooks is lacking, it's in his understanding of human nature and the psychology of the mind. In the most pathetic attempt to make excuses for John McCain's abominable behavior during this campaign yet, Brooks tries to assert that the McCain we're seeing during this last year or so is not the "real" McCain.
Even though, as far back as 17 years ago, McCain was involved in a very similar scandal to the current banking debacle he helped engineer in this decade, even though he was one of the infamous "Keating Five" who caused the massive loss of middle-class people's life savings - and then did it again, even though he's done all that, past and present, Brooks claims that McCain up until this year "was an unfailingly candid man" and "for a politician, a humble man."
David, there isn't any school of psychological thought that would support such an absurd assertion that one's basic personality could suddenly change at the age of 72, because of the pressures of a political campaign - unless, of course, you're trying to claim that McCain has Alzheimer's or dementia. If anything, the ambition and the chosen challenge of seeking higher office would bring out the true core of the person. We are seeing the Real McCain in full view.
So many have wanted to project a glorified image onto John McCain because of his wartime heroism, and like you, David Brooks, so many have insisted on seeing what they wanted to see in McCain. But he won't allow it. Like all people whose basic character structure is psychopathic, John McCain cannot resist being who he is and exposing himself to us.