John McCain on Fox News yesterday, speaking to that esteemed journalist, Greta Van Susteren:

VAN SUSTEREN: Senator, the big talk in town today is CIA director Leon Panetta in The New Yorker says about Vice President Cheney that Vice President Cheney almost suggests he’s wishing that the country would be attacked again in order to make his point. What do you think about the director’s statements about the vice president?

MCCAIN: I think the director’s statements are totally uncalled for. The director has a big job, and one of them is to try to lift the morale, which is very low over at the CIA. He shouldn’t be saying this about a person he’s known for many years and knows better. I don’t know why he’s doing it. He should retract it immediately.

Retractions are best done on an orderly basis.

I think first McCain should retract his head from the unsalubrious place it has been so firmly lodged for so long. Then, Cheney should retract at least three of the more serious whoppers he told us over the last eight years and change. Then, sure, Panetta should go ahead and remorsefully retract his entirely true but undiplomatic statement.