While no one is saying it’s not true, at least one prominent blogger is having trouble finding an accurate and consistent account of John McCain’s now-famous “cross in the dirt” story from his days as a P.O.W.

Andrew Sullivan was the first to raise some questions about it. And now Beliefnet has this cogent summary of what we know, and don’t:

The story changed from the guard using a sandal to the guard using a stick.

At Saddleback, McCain talked about a single guard being the protagonist. The same guard loosened his ropes and then later sketchd the cross in the dirt. In McCain’s 1999 book, these were two different guards at two different prison camps.

McCain’s first writings about his time in captivity didn’t mention the story at all, so (Sullivan) has asked his readers for evidence of McCain offering that story prior to his 1999 book (when he was gearing up for a presidential run).

Evidently, at one point, McCain told the story and indicated that it had happened to someone else. The story also bears an uncanny resemblance to an incident that happened to Alexander Solzhenitsen, one that was later retold and popularized by Chuck Colsen and Billy Graham.

To put it mildly, there may be a problem here.

UPDATE: While Sullivan could find no record of McCain speaking or writing about this event before 1999, a former P.O.W. who is campaigning for the Arizona Senator now says the following:

“I recall John telling that story when we first got together in 1971, when were talking about every conceivable thing that had ever happened to us when we were in prison. Most of us had been kept apart or in small groups. Then, in 1970, they moved us into the big cell. And when we all got to see each other and talk to each other directly, instead of tapping through walls, we had 24 hours a day, seven days a week to talk to each other, and we shared stories. I vaguely recall that story being told, among other stories.”