At this point, John McCain’s ability to hold multiple views on the same subject is quickly becoming the stuff of legend.

Exhibit A in this regard is his shifting rationales for running negative campaign ads that attack everything from Barack Obama’s self image to his eating habits to his religious scruples.

But this explanation offered in a David Broder column takes the cake:

The first question I asked John McCain and then Barack Obama was: How do you feel about the tone and direction of the campaign so far?

No surprise. Both men pronounced themselves thoroughly frustrated by the personal bitterness and negativism they have seen in the two months since they learned they would be running against each other.

“I’m very sorry about it,” McCain said in a Saturday interview at his Arlington headquarters. “I think we could have avoided at least some of this if we had agreed to do the town hall meetings” together, as he had suggested, during the summer months.

Booman sorts out McCain’s tortured logic: Even though McCain reacted negatively to Obama’s counteroffer of two town hall debates and decided there would be none, it is solely Obama’s fault because he did not accept all five. And, as a result of there being no town hall debates, the candidates couldn’t stand on the same stage and become fine friends.