On the August 17 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, Houston Chronicle White House correspondent Julie Mason characterized as “extraordinary” the response Sen. John McCain gave during the August 16 Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency to a question about his “greatest moral failure.” Commenting on McCain's response that his “greatest moral failing” was “the failure of my first marriage,” Mason said: “I think McCain really did something extraordinary when -- the way he answered that question. ... He addressed an issue that the campaign has been having a hard time figuring out how to deal with. They've wanted to confront it, it's out there on the Internet, it's something that Democrats are trying to use against McCain. So he put it out there, he acknowledged it. And he sort of inoculated himself against it. I think that's really going to help him.” Host Howard Kurtz similarly said: “McCain has acknowledged that he was not faithful in his first marriage, but not necessarily before a national television audience.” But contrary to Mason's and Kurtz's suggestion, there was little new in McCain's assertion regarding his first marriage: McCain has repeatedly “acknowledged” his responsibility for the breakup of his first marriage in his memoir, in interviews, and “before a national television audience.”

Mason contrasted McCain's response with Sen. Barack Obama's, in which Obama named his past drug use and said, “What I trace this to is a certain selfishness on my part. I was so obsessed with me and, you know, the reasons that I might be dissatisfied that I couldn't focus on other people.” Mason said: “Obama's answer, you know, that was not new information. For a 47-year-old man to claim that his worst moral failing happened when he was a teenager -- I don't know, it's a little disingenuous.”

Indeed, during his first presidential run and in his 2002 memoir, McCain mentioned the breakup of his first marriage numerous times. For example:

• On the February 2, 1999, edition of a CNN special event titled First in the Nation: The New Hampshire Primary, co-host Bernard Shaw asked McCain: “You had an affair your first marriage. The sitting president is been impeached for his conduct with Monica Lewinsky. Should a politician's private acts be part of public discourse?” McCain replied: “Let me say that I am responsible for the break-up of my first marriage. I will not discuss or talk about that any more than that. If someone wants to criticize me for that, that's fine. I believe that the standards of morality of conduct will be determined, not by the politician themselves, but by the media and the American people. I will leave that judgment to them.”
• On the March 2, 1999, edition of CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, host Wolf Blitzer interviewed McCain and asked of McCain's “background”: “Is there anything out there that you want to talk about rather than wait until this campaign goes on and on and on that's going to cause surprises in the press, once again will focus on scandals as opposed to policy issues?” McCain replied: “I certainly hope not. I have made it clear that I am responsible for the break-up of my first marriage. But I've also made it clear that I'm not going to discuss that.”
• During the April 18, 1999, broadcast of CBS News Sunday Morning, correspondent Rita Braver aired an interview she conducted with McCain, in which she said to McCain: “You admitted to infidelity in your first marriage. Are you worried about the scrutiny that you and your family will have to undergo in this campaign?” McCain responded: “I have said that I'm responsible for the breakup of my first marriage. I have then and now refused to discuss that further.”
• An August 20, 1999, San Francisco Chronicle article reported that McCain told San Francisco talk-radio host Ronn Owens: “I'm responsible for the breakup of my first marriage ... but I don't want to go into the details.”
• On the September 8, 1999, broadcast of ABC's 20/20, then co-host Sam Donaldson reported that "[w]hen he [McCain] came back from the war to a wife who had waited for him -- not only that, but had been badly injured in an auto accident while waiting -- he divorced her for the daughter of a wealthy Arizona beer distributor." Donaldson asked McCain, “What do you say about that?” To which, McCain replied: “I say I'm responsible for the breakup of my first marriage, and I will always bear that responsibility. And I am not proud of it.”
• In his memoir Worth the Fighting For (Random House, 2002), McCain wrote that in the years following his return from Vietnam he did “not show[] the same determination to rebuild my personal life” as he did his professional life. McCain wrote: “My marriage to Carol McCain was falling apart. Sound marriages can be hard to recover after great time and distance have separated a husband and wife. We are different people when we reunite. But my marriage's collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity more than it was to Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was entirely mine.”

From the August 17 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources:

KURTZ: Let me turn now to last night's presidential forum. This was the pastor Rick Warren at California's Saddleback Church. He had Obama and McCain on separately, asked them a lot of questions that you don't usually get asked at these things, including -- well, I'll let you hear the question, but in a response, Obama talked about his teenage drug use, and John McCain talked about his past infidelity years ago. Let's watch.

[begin video clip]

WARREN: What would be, looking over your life -- everybody's got weaknesses, nobody's perfect -- would be the greatest moral failure in your life?

OBAMA: What I trace this to is a certain selfishness on my part. I was so obsessed with me and, you know, the reasons that I might be dissatisfied that I couldn't focus on other people.

McCAIN: My greatest moral failing -- and I have been a very imperfect person -- is the failure of my first marriage.

WARREN: And everybody has some kind --

[end video clip]

KURTZ: Julie Mason, this was on Saturday night, up against the Olympics, Michael Phelps winning his record-shattering eighth gold medal. Is this going to be a blip in terms of the campaign coverage?

MASON: I don't know. I mean, I think McCain really did something extraordinary when -- the way he answered that question, Howie. He addressed an issue that the campaign has been having a hard time figuring out how to deal with. They've wanted to confront it, it's out there on the Internet, it's something that Democrats are trying to use against McCain.

So he put it out there, he acknowledged it. And he sort of inoculated himself against it. I think that's really going to help him.

Obama's answer, you know, that was not new information. For a 47-year-old man to claim that his worst moral failing happened when he was a teenager -- I don't know, it's a little disingenuous.

So I think it does get some traction going forward. There was a lot of news coverage, even if people weren't necessarily watching the forum.

KURTZ: Right. McCain has acknowledged that he was not faithful in his first marriage, but not necessarily before a national television audience.

Rick Warren, he asked questions about the nature of evil, Christ, abortion. Did he elicit more interesting answers than a network anchor might have?

JOSHUA GREEN (senior editor of The Atlantic): I think he intended to. I mean, it seemed to be more of a conversational setting. You know, we were told ahead of the time there weren't going to be any “gotcha” questions. He certainly managed to slip in a couple on the Supreme Court and other things.

From the September 8, 1999, edition of ABC's 20/20:

SAM DONALDSON: (voice-over) But no story ends so perfectly, nor does this one for John McCain. When he came back from the war to a wife who had waited for him -- not only that, but had been badly injured in an auto accident while waiting -- he divorced her for the daughter of a wealthy Arizona beer distributor.

(on camera) What do you say about that?

JOHN MCCAIN: I say I'm responsible for the breakup of my first marriage, and I will always bear that responsibility. And I am not proud of it.

From the August 20, 1999, San Francisco Chronicle:

For his part, McCain admitted to being “very uncomfortable” with the continual questions of Bush. “The media and the American people have the right to make a judgment about him ... (but) the governor is entitled to privacy.”

“I've done things in my life I'm not proud of. ... I'm a believer in redemption, and my life has been less than exemplary in many respects,” he said.

“I'm responsible for the breakup of my first marriage ... but I don't want to go into the details,” he told KGO's Ronn Owens.

But asked at The Chronicle editorial board meeting if the cocaine question was a fair one for a presidential candidate, McCain, 63, said he had never used cocaine.

From the April 18, 1999, edition of CBS News Sunday Morning:

BRAVER: (Voiceover) McCain has, indeed, re-established his reputation for integrity. He considers himself a family man, but in the wake of President Clinton's indiscretions, everything about every candidate's past will be scrutinized.

You admitted to infidelity in your first marriage. Are you worried about the scrutiny that you and your family will have to undergo in this campaign?

Sen. McCAIN: I have said that I'm responsible for the breakup of my first marriage. I have then and now refused to discuss that further. I have done a number of things in my life that are pretty colorful, that--that we referred to earlier. But I don't intend to discuss my private life in this campaign, and that is my response.

BRAVER: Do you think there are episodes that will be revealed that will be embarrassing to you?

Sen. McCAIN: There's nothing in my life that I know of that will disqualify me from being president of the United States.

From the March 2, 1999, edition of CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: Your background. Is there anything out there that you want to talk about rather than wait until this campaign goes on and on and on that's going to cause surprises in the press, once again will focus on scandals as opposed to policy issues?

MCCAIN: I certainly hope not. I have made it clear that I am responsible for the break-up of my first marriage. But I've also made it clear that I'm not going to discuss that. It's -- the American people, the media and anybody else who wants to, can discuss it, I just don't choose to.

BLITZER: Is it fair game to go after candidates' personal backgrounds like that, or should we, the media, just stay out of it?

MCCAIN: Well, obviously all candidates would like to see the media stay completely out of it, but the fact is the media will be in it, and to what degree will be decided by the media and the American people; the candidates will not decide. So I have to say I have no position on that because I have no control over it.

From the February 2, 1999, edition of CNN's First in the Nation: The New Hampshire Primary:

BERNARD SHAW: You had an affair your first marriage. The sitting president is been impeached for his conduct with Monica Lewinsky. Should a politician's private acts be part of public discourse?

MCCAIN: Let me say that I am responsible for the break-up of my first marriage. I will not discuss or talk about that any more than that. If someone wants to criticize me for that, that's fine. I believe that the standards of morality of conduct will be determined, not by the politician themselves, but by the media and the American people. I will leave that judgment to them.

SHAW: How will you handle people trying to pry into your personal life? People who are just outright nosy?

MCCAIN: It happens, it goes with the territory, it's part of a political campaign, I'm not equipped to change it; only the American people and the media are. I realize that this is a very, very tough business. It's not a contact sport, it's a collision sport.

From Pages 13-14 of Worth the Fighting For:

I had used my professional advantages well since I had come home from war and was building a decent reputation for myself in the navy. But I had not shown the same determination to rebuild my personal life. My marriage to Carol McCain was falling apart. Sound marriages can be hard to recover after great time and distance have separated a husband and wife. We are different people when we reunite. But my marriage's collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity more than it was to Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was entirely mine.