McCain does NOT put Country first

Did McCain say he put ambition first, before country?
Yes, though McCain said that in 2002 with respect to his 2000 presidential campaign; his 2008 campaign motto is "Country First".

In his 2002 autobiography "Worth the Fighting For" McCain said with respect to his 2000 presidential campaign:

"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to become president because it had become my ambition to be president. I was 62 years old when I made the decision, and I thought it was my one shot at the prize...

"In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time... it had been there, in the back of my mind, for years, as if it were simply a symptom of my natural restlessness." [1]
In "Worth the Fighting For" McCain provided an example of how his long-time ambition to be president motivated him to "lie," be a "coward," and put his personal interests before the interests of his country. With respect to then-hot issue of flying the Confederate flag over South Carolina's state capitol, McCain wrote:

"[On CBS's "Face the Nation"] I said the flag is offensive 'in many, many ways. As we all know, it's a symbol of racism and slavery.'... I left little doubt that whatever courtesy I had extended to the flag's defenders, I was of the view that it should come down...