McKinnon

I don't know, maybe it's just me but I find this story absolutely remarkable. At least, I really want to.

Mark McKinnon has a long history as a media advisor, starting with Democrats in Texas, before switching to George Bush. He's served our current President and other top Republicans, developing some of the nastiest ads against John Kerry last time (though not the deplorable Swift Boat crap), and has been most recently employed as the chief media person for John McCain in his run for the White House.

But last June McKinnon made a public announcement. He told everyone that he could not work against Barack Obama if Obama became the Democratic nominee saying the election of a black person would "send a great message to the country and the world."

The comments came at a time when McCain was wallowing at the bottom of the Republican presidential pack, and Clinton appeared inevitable on the other side. So it didn't have much weight, didn't seem to carry. In fact, I don't even recall reading or hearing about it then.

Today however, things are completely different. McCain will be the nominee and it appears certain that Obama will as well. And today McKinnon stepped up.

He actually did what he said he would. He resigned from his job with McCain.

I was surprised, excited. So pure. So uncompromising. So damn principled.

Right? How could it be other?

Though just now, from the dark, unprincipled, self-serving world of politics comes a flicker of a doubt. What if McKinnon thinks McCain can't win? What if he hopes to go home to the Democrats? What if this was just a job application.