McCain’s at it again.

Crypto-antimaverick McCain just keeps giving and giving.

After hiring Terry Nelson as an advisor, a bloke who was last seen aiding and abetting Tom DeLay’s money-funneling machinations, McCain appeared on a Seattle radio show where a caller questioned his decision, saying, “For a reformer, I'm kind of curious why he would hire a guy like Terry Nelson as a senior advisor… I'm curious why would you hire someone with such a shady background?”

And then the fun began.

MCCAIN: None of those charges are true.

CALLER: You don't believe what was actually written in the indictment from Texas?

MCCAIN: No.

CARLSON: All right.

[nervous laughter]

MCCAIN: I will check it out. But I've never heard of such a thing. I know that he was a grassroots organizer for President Bush year 2000 and 2004, and had a very important job in the Bush campaign as late as 2004, but the other charges I will go and look and see if any of them are true, but I've never heard of them before.

That’s the way to not look like an asshole—immediately deny that charges you later admit you’ve never heard of aren’t true. Well played, Captain Clever.

(Hat tip to Think Progress. Crossposted at Ezra’s place.)