John McCain, long known for a propensity to speaking his mind that some call straight talk and others call diplomatic gaffes, recently threw a rock at one of the most volatile wasp's nests in the American West - the Colorado River Compact.

McCain was unequivocal in his comments to The Pueblo Chieftain, a newspaper in Pueblo, Colorado: "I don’t think there’s any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties. I think that there’s a movement amongst the governors to try, if not, quote, renegotiate, certainly adjust to the new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource."

This was not what officials, apparatchiks, and fellow Republicans all over the West, and particularly Colorado and Utah, wanted to hear from their presidential candidate. As the saying out West goes, "Whiskey's for drinkin', and water's for fightin'" - and McCain's comments were fighting words in the long-simmering war over the Colorado's water.

Tensions over water issues are high but stable in the West, and states further up the Colorado River like Colorado and Utah are quite happy with their allotments of the river's water - which they jealously guard against powerful downstream states like Arizona and California, whose economic and population growth depends on water supplies. A senator from one of those powerful states proposing a renegotiation may very well have been Western political suicide; some commentators believe that McCain may have sold his chances for carrying Colorado and Utah down the Colorado River. Colorado Republicans and Democrats alike wasted no time in erupting in outrage.

"Over my cold, dead, political carcass," Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer fumed. "The compact is the only protection Colorado has from several more politically powerful downstream states. Opening it for renegotiation would be the equivalent of a lamb discussing with a pack of wolves what should be on the dinner menu."

"I’m really kind of surprised that someone running for president, that needs to carry the state of Colorado would make a statement like that," said John Redifer, a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo) said he is "totally disappointed in McCain." Janet Napoletano, the governor of McCain's home state of Arizona, even ripped into the candidate, dismissing McCain as poorly informed.

McCain folded less than a week later, pleading for political mercy in an e-mail to supporters around the West - "Let me be clear that I do not advocate renegotiation of the compact," he said, even though his earlier words came perilously close to advocating just that.

McCain's abandonment of his straight talk aside, the issue of the Colorado River and its compact remains a live one. Climate change has deeply affected the west, and river flows are unreliable and deeply modified. The peak flow estimates that predicate the allocations in the Colorado River Compact are no longer realistic, and many consider them to have been inflated from the beginning. The river cannot deliver the full amount of water promised by the Compact any longer, and water shortages are a distinct possibility in the West in coming decades.

We actually agree with McCain that the compact should be revisited, but the suggestion does raise concerns that a scrapped compact could throttle the economies of up-river states. McCain will regret his words, but the issue won't go away - and the next president will be forced to deal with it.