Why didn't McCain want to see the troops in March?

The curious thing about John McCain's dishonorable attack on Barack Obama is that McCain himself visited Europe in March, but didn't visit the wounded troops in Landstuhl, Germany.

It's true that McCain's trip to Europe bypassed Germany -- he only went to London and Paris. But as you can see in the map below, it turns out that London and Berlin are about the same distance from Landstuhl, and Paris is just a four hour drive away.

So if McCain wanted to visit the troops, it would have been trivial to arrange -- no seismic event needed. But it's clear McCain didn't want to visit them, and as a result, it should be fair to ask McCain why he now feels entitled to attack Barack Obama.

I'm not trying to say that John McCain didn't have other important things to do. For example, he hauled in much-needed cash at a campaign fundraiser hosted by a British Lord.

But it's pretty ridiculous for McCain to be making this absurd, hypocritical attack on Barack Obama. They've both visited wounded troops in the past. And as commanders-in-chief, they would both work for the best interests of the nation, even if they would take it in different directions.

McCain is desperate now, in full-fledged panic mode. If this is how he'd handle a crisis as president, it's all the more important that Barack Obama win this election.

Update: There is an important difference between McCain's Europe trip and Barack Obama's -- McCain's was official business, and therefore taxpayer-funded. Obama's was political, and therefore campaign-funded. During the portion of Obama's trip that was official -- the portion in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait -- Barack Obama did visit wounded troops, and he did so with no fanfare.

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