What the Senator Meant to Say was...

John McCain’s Straight Talk Express made a detour on the campaign trail when he made a classic Washington mistake. He told the truth.

In Ohio today, McCain said to win the general election in November, he must convince voters U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can't do that he said, "then, I lose. I lose.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before he starting backing up so fast he should have been making a loud beeping noise.

“Let me not put it that stark,” he said. "Let me just put it this way: Americans will judge my candidacy first and foremost on how they believe I can lead the country both from our economy and for national security. Obviously, Iraq will play a role in their judgment of my ability to handle national security.”

Later in the day, he tried again.

“I quickly retracted that. I was not allowed to retract it obviously,” he joked. “I don’t mean that I’ll lose. It’s not often that I retract a comment. I retracted the finality of that statement, I think that the issue of the war in Iraq is important to the American people and it will be a major factor in their determining who they are going to support in the election in November.”

Maybe he was right the first time.