After a commenter suggested that a McCain flip-flop isn't a flip-flop unless he goes back to his original position, this popped up on TV:

To summarize, McCain was quoted last year that he didn't know much about the economy, and that he "need to be schooled" on it. When confronted during a debate with this quote, he denied he said it. Then Tim Russert pinned him down, and McCain admitted that he had said it. Now yesterday, he's back to claiming he didn't say it at all.

I think this is more troubling than some of his other flip-flops. He's not just changing his position. He's either forgetting what he said (about something he has been asked about multiple times), or he's just flat-out lying and hoping no one calls him on it.

But then there is this account of an encounter in Nicaragua by GOP Sen. Thad Cochran:

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention," Cochran said. "But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever. I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, good grief everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission. I don't know what had happened to provoke John but he obviously got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him."

Here's what Cochran said about McCain in January:

"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran told the Globe. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

Now, what does McCain's anger problems have to do with his flip-flop-flip about what he said about his economic knowledge? I believe we just saw another example of McCain's temper problem. He doesn't like being confronted by that quote, so he just denies saying it, trying hard not to blow up on camera.

People think that if McCain can keep from going ballistic in public, then he's successful in controlling his temper. But that's not the case. Even if he doesn't blow up, his temper can affect how he thinks. If the facts make him mad, then he just denies them. That's not the kind of thoughtful, open-minded leadership I think America needs. In fact, it seems to sound a lot like George W. Bush, who never let the facts get in the way of his mission.