Because every bad thing they can think up about George Bush needs to be tied to John McCain, the Obama camp simply assumes that McCain and Bush agree on certain issues even when they do not. This is true on Guantanamo and military tribunals. Today Obama claimed McCain supported Bush’s position. But in fact McCain has been a thorn, a very sharp one, in the Bush administration’s side on Guantanamo and the provision of legal access to detainees for a long time. See here and here and here. (This is not to say that McCain favored full habeas corpus rights for detainees; he did not. But he can hardly be deemed to be a Bush clone on this one.)

Some conservatives might have liked McCain to have followed a harder line, but he didn’t. And to contend that he backed Bush’s stance is absurd. The McCain camp is obviously conflicted and in no hurry to remind conservatives of differences with them on this national security issue. Still, it would be nice if the media asked Obama what the basis for his accusation against McCain is.