In one of the most petulant columns in recent history, Charles Krauthammer made a begrudging admission yesterday:

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously said of Franklin Roosevelt that he had a “second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament.” Obama has shown that he is a man of limited experience, questionable convictions, deeply troubling associations (Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko) and an alarming lack of self-definition — do you really know who he is and what he believes? Nonetheless, he’s got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president.

When even Charles Krauthammer is forced to admit that Barack Obama possesses a ‘first-class intellect and a first-class temperament’ and, in that regard, is superior to Franklin Roosevelt, it’s a pretty good argument that Sen. Obama is a good man for the job of president. But, notice also, that Krauthammer mentioned his ‘associations’, because that is where McCain now plans to go. The Washington Post reports:

“We’re going to get a little tougher,” a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. “We’ve got to question this guy’s associations. Very soon. There’s no question that we have to change the subject here,” said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Now, John McCain talks a lot about honor and the concept seems to be quite important to him. John McCain would be doing us all a service if he raised questions about truly troubling associations that might lead to legitimate questions about Obama’s judgment and fitness for office. But Obama’s acquaintance with William Ayers is the worst kind of reach. His relationship with Tony Rezko has been thoroughly vetted. And the nation has already rendered its judgment about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Even Charles Krauthammer concedes Barack Obama’s excellent qualities of mind and temperament.

I’m sympathetic to the concept that a political campaign’s number one job is to win. I understand that campaigns will occasionally stretch the truth. Politics isn’t a civil sporting event. But, even in politics, there is sportsmanship and there is integrity and there is, I hope, honor. Is this honorable?

Two other top Republicans said the new ads are likely to hammer the senator from Illinois on his connections to convicted Chicago developer Antoin “Tony” Rezko and former radical William Ayres, whom the McCain campaign regularly calls a domestic terrorist because of his acts of violence against the U.S. government in the 1960s.

As for Jeremiah Wright, he won’t be appearing in commercials (at least, not from the campaign directly), but not for any reasons of fair play.

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. appears to be off limits after McCain condemned the North Carolina Republican Party in April for an ad that linked Obama to his former pastor, saying, “Unfortunately, all I can do is, in as visible a way as possible, disassociate myself from that kind of campaigning.”

You might remember that Hillary Clinton brought up William Ayers and Tony Rezko, to little effect. And I don’t think a reprise by John McCain will save his bacon. McCain has been successfully painted as a man with a bad temper and a nasty ‘get-off-my-lawn’ disposition. He’s suffering from a 41%-46% favoribility rating, which is only slightly better than the 41%-51% favoribility rating of his running mate. Negative attacks raise your opponents unfavorables, but they also do the same to you. Considering that Obama enjoys a rating of 58%-31%, McCain probably cannot afford to be relentlessly negative.

Likewise, the American people are unlikely to reward a diversionary tactic aimed at moving the conversation off their main concern, the economy. McCain would be lucky to see foreign policy become a focus, but people are not interested in strained personal attacks.

It looks to me like John McCain is going to make the last month of this campaign as unpleasant and dishonorable as possible. And that is going to leave a mark on his legacy almost as large as his decision to select a beauty contestant as his running mate.