OK, so now we know that the Saddleback Civil Forum was civil but maybe not as pure as the public had been led to believe. The unusually crisp delivery of John McCain may be attributed to the fact that he was not actually in a "cone of silence" as the audience was assured by Pastor Rick Warren.

What anyone from Saddleback Church knew and when they knew it is worthy of discourse even if the McCain Camp and his supporters try to pooh-pooh the matter. It's difficult to believe that Warren's production and event team were not aware that McCain was not actually under a cone of silence. Either he was in place or he wasn't; it's not that difficult.

What are particularly distasteful to me are the responses Pastor Rick Warren has given regarding this situation. Rather than offer a genuine apology for the inconsistency, he insults the public with this retort: "They're dead wrong. That's just sour grapes..." Hmmm…that's not apologetic and not at all what I'd expect from a well-respected man of the cloth.

The fact that McCain handled the questions as well as he did to the point that it raised suspicions should be a bigger issue for his camp to address.

Will this issue blow over? Probably. Will voters think that McCain cheated? Probably. McCain has a history of womanizing and abandonment of his first wife so his integrity is questionable at best. Just as the mainstream media ignored Hillary Clinton's portrayal of her trip to Bosnia, perhaps they will eventually start telling the truth about McCain.