Arizona Senator John McCain (Rep) accepted an invitation, and spoke to the graduating class of Liberty University, a highly conservative Christian school founded by Jerry Falwell. It is pretty clear that McCain is setting himself up to run in the 2008 Republican primaries, possibly against Jeb Bush. To me, this is exactly the type of thing that McCain would never have done, and he seems to be a politician who has a history of being quite blunt and does not play the game of politics very well. But over the past month, it looks like someone has suggested that he play the game like everyone else, if he wants a good shot at Presidency. I am not all that familiar with the man’s political views, but statements like this make him really seem like his head is on straight:

“Americans deserve more than tolerance from one another… We deserve each other’s respect, whether we think each other right or wrong in our views, as long as our character and our sincerity merit respect, and as long as we share, for all our differences, for all the noisy debates that enliven our politics, a mutual devotion to the sublime idea that this nation was conceived in — that freedom is the inalienable right of mankind…”

• McCain Makes Stop at Falwell’s University (AP)