LETTER TO EDITOR: Who is John McCain?

Elizabeth Drew wrote a fawning biography of Sen. John McCain, titled "Citizen McCain." At the time of its publication, she was widely criticized for fawning over Mr. McCain and whitewashing his negatives. Today, she says he is no longer the principled maverick she wrote about. Her column "How John McCain lost me" can be read at truthout.org.

Mrs. Drew quotes from Mr. McCain's 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For," wherein Mr. McCain wrote candidly about his 2000 run for the presidency. Mr. McCain wrote in his book: "I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in ... . In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. ... In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."

Mrs. Drew says in her column, "McCain's recent conduct of his campaign — his willingness to lie repeatedly (including in his acceptance speech) and to play Russian roulette with the vice-presidency, in order to fulfill his long-held ambition — has reinforced my earlier, and growing, sense that John McCain is not a principled man.

"In fact, it's not clear who he is."

ALAN LIGHT

Iowa City