First they tried the “is McCain having an affair? We’re just wondering” tactic. Then the Grey Lady tried the “is McCain eligible to be president since he was born in the Panama Canal Zone?” tactic. Followed by “McCain’s had cancer. Could he get it again? We’re just wondering” story. Now, they are trying a more reasonable hit piece, but, a hit piece nonetheless

Senator John McCain never fails to call himself a conservative Republican as he campaigns as his party’s presumptive presidential nominee. He often adds that he was a “foot soldier” in the Reagan revolution and that he believes in the bedrock conservative principles of small government, low taxes and the rights of the unborn.

What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party, and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.

Perhaps because Senator McCain has a vastly different recollection of what transpired, as the Times itself points out deep into the article. It was the Democrats who were looking to bring over a Republican, and McCain was still pretty ticked off about the 2000 GOP primaries. He never really considered the offer, though.

And it was the Kerry camp who made the overtures to bring McCain in as his VP, which McCain never really considered seriously.

Either way, the episodes shed light on a bitter period in Mr. McCain’s life after the 2000 presidential election, when he was, at least in policy terms, drifting away from his own party. They also offer a glimpse into his psychological makeup and the difficulties in putting a label on his political ideology over many years in the Senate.

Keep dreaming, NY Times. Perhaps you should go have a talk with Nancy Pelosi, who is probably pretty bitter about the Nutroots attacks on her, and having not one, but two Democrats running against her, her! THE Speaker of the House, for her House seat.