On tonight's Late Show:
"I know Gordon Liddy. He paid his debt, he went to prison ... I'm not in any was embarrassed to know Gordon Liddy."
He went to prison for Watergate, sure. But McCain has clearly forgotten about all of the other crazy. You mean, McCain doesn't mind that stuff about Liddy describing on his radio show how to murder a federal agent? A federal agent! Or that crap about Liddy using a photo of Senator Clinton as a firing range target? McCain doesn't seem to mind.
As far as I know, Mr. Liddy never spent any time in jail for those things.
And McCain? Not embarrassed. Not at all.
UPDATE: Liddy's remarks about killing ATF agents:
"Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests." ... "They've got a big target on there, ATF. Don't shoot at that, because they've got a vest on underneath that. Head shots, head shots. Kill the sons of bitches." --August 26, 1994
And...
"If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms insists upon a firefight, give them a firefight. Just remember, they're wearing flak jackets and you're better off shooting for the head." --September 15, 1994
ADDING... The upshot is that if William Ayers is going to be an issue, so should Gordon Liddy. And as far as I'm concerned, Liddy is far, far worse. Watergate, the murdering-ATF-agents advice and the Clinton shooting targets only scratch the surface of Liddy's awfulness.
There are things he did as a White House Plumber that are beyond unconstitutional -- other things that we don't even know about and probably never will. Sabotage, break-ins and other dirty tricks -- dark, dark subversions of the executive branch. He's represents one of the most terrible eras in American history, and McCain is talking about Liddy like he's an old buddy who spent the night in the Mayberry lockup with Otis the town drunk!