Rolling Stone magazine takes the bark of the Republican presidential nominee John McCain with its cover story entitled,“Make Believe Maverick.”

   Naturally, there’s a New Hampshire connection since o ne of his former colleagues, ex-NH Sen. Bob Smith joins a trio of GOP senators who suggest McCain lacks the temperament to be commander in chief.

    This dovetails nicely with the new, tougher line of attack from Democratic nominee Barack Obama that dubs McCain as “erratic.”

   “At least three of McCain’s GOP colleagues have gone on record to say that they consider him temperamentally unsuited to be commander in chief. Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire, has said that McCain’s “temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him.”

     This has to hurt McCain who worked with Smith for years on Vietnam normalization and getting answers on the status of POW-MIAs.

     It could have been worse. MS Sen. Thad Cochran said of McCain, “He is erratic. He is hotheaded.”

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