Straight Talk on McCain "Town Hall"

Republican candidate John McCain held the first of a series of much-touted "Town Hall" meetings on Thursday. In this year's contentious, divided election season, these meetings are a welcome sign of transparency and goodwill. McCain met with Democrats, independents, and Republicans and engaged in a real dialogue on the issues.

At least, that's what we're supposed to think. The truth is that the 200-strong audience at last night's meeting was made up of McCain supporters. While the meeting was underway, the campaign issued a clarification to Fox News that they issued passes to "supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, and other independent groups."