If I weren’t so angry at the messages I am getting on my phone machine, I would pity John McCain. He is a tragic figure.

In 2000, I spent the winter in New Hampshire. I went to the town meeting McCain held in Hopkinton to hear his ideas. There were about 50 people there, and that seemed amazing at 7 a.m. on a cold, cold morning. So although I can’t say my encounter with McCain was “personal,” it was certainly “up close.” I left the town meeting full of admiration for him. I also read his book, “Faith of Our Fathers.”

On my phone message machine I was shocked to hear an outrageous lie being propagated by the Republican Party. Now they claim that an old acquaintance of Obama was responsible for attacks on the Pentagon. They are hoping we will think that this refers to 9-ll. How can McCain, who was once an honorable man, countenance these personal attacks and let his name be sullied by lies? Are lies now part of his vaunted patriotism?

It took years for the North Vietnamese to break McCain when he was in prison. But it took only weeks for the Republicans to break him. McCain’s campaign was destroyed by the lies the Republican machine spread in South Carolina. And now McCain is using that tactic in Maine against Obama.

Janet King

Deer Isle