From time to time, we’ve seen reports about John McCain’s heartfelt intention to run an honorable, above-board campaign, focused on substance. McCain, we’re told, has no appetite for ugly campaigning, nasty attacks, guilt by association, and all of the untoward tactics that have come to dominate every election cycle.

It’s curious, then, that McCain has hired Tim Griffin. Bob Novak reports:

Indicating what lies ahead is the McCain campaign’s plan to bring in Tim Griffin, a protege of Karl Rove, who is a leading practitioner of opposition research — the digging up of derogatory information about political opponents. Although final arrangements have not been pinned down, Griffin would work at the Republican National Committee, as he did during Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign.

Griffin’s name may sound familiar. First, Griffin was a key player in the White House’s U.S. Attorney purge scandal. Second, remember “vote caging”? Griffin sure does.

Greg Sargent has more, including a reminder of Griffin digging up old footage that wound up in an ad by the Swift Boat Vets.

Griffin tends to describe his own work in fairly bellicose terms. “We think of ourselves as the creators of ammunition in a war,” Griffin once said. “We make the bullets.”

Just another move from the always-honorable McCain campaign.