And the Punch Line to the Story Is… (You Know What’s Coming… Er, So to Speak)

Joe at AMERICAblog links to a report by Jim Davenport for AP about John McCain now obsequiously pandering to "Christian conservatives" by lecturing young people "about abstaining from premarital sex": Most presidential candidates are trying to get people to say "yes." Republican Sen. John McCain will be encouraging South Carolina students to say "no." The Arizona lawmaker is scheduled to speak Sunday night to about 1,500 middle and high school students about abstaining from premarital sex. Abstinence and abortion loom large as issues in this first-in-the-South primary state in the heart of the Bible Belt. "Senator McCain has a long legislative record of supporting abstinence-based initiatives in his record in the U.S. Senate," said Trey Walker, McCain's South Carolina campaign director. "He thinks that abstinence is healthier and should be promoted in our society for young people." Atrios quotes from McCain's biography, written by Robert Timberg: The following night, McCain's last in Rio, the designer who brought them together had scheduled a farewell party for McCain. He and Elena planned to go to dinner first. He arrived at her apartment about eight, knocked on the door, and readied himself to be greeted by the Aunt or one of the servants. No one answered his knock. He tried the door, found it unlocked, and let himself in. "I'll be right out," Elena called from the bedroom. McCain wandered onto the terrace. The moon was glinting off the bay. A bottle of champagne was chilling in a bucket of ice. When Elena joined him a few minutes later, she was not, McCain would later say, dressed for dinner. The next morning McCain raced to the airport to catch his plane. Elena did not go with him. He never saw her again. One Night Stand McCain. One might say this kinda pokes a hole in his new campaign strategy.