Visibly uncomfortable, although not as much as Bill Richardson when Melissa Etheridge put him on the hot seat at that gay forum last year. All she wants here is a reason for drawing the distinction, and Maverick, ever mindful of the base, can’t do better than agree-to-disagree. But credit him as always for going on the show knowing that he’d have to take the question. It’s of a piece with his upcoming visit to the NAACP convention: He’ll be received coolly (but cordially), it won’t win him many votes, but the mere fact of attendance demonstrates that the disagreement has to do with policy, not with some sort of visceral distaste. The latter is a great weapon in the left’s arsenal for demagoging Republicans. McCain’s smart to bite the bullet and take it away from them.