McCain’s transition is complete

March 28, 2006

The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne asked this morning if [tag]John McCain[/tag] is “a maverick no more.” About the same time Dionne’s column was hitting doorsteps, the question was answered.

American military hero and Arizona [tag]Sen. John McCain[/tag] will deliver the Commencement message at Liberty University on May 13, at 9:30 a.m., in the [tag]Liberty University[/tag] Vines Center. […]

While Sen. McCain and Liberty University Chancellor [tag]Jerry Falwell[/tag] have had their share of political differences through the years, the two men share a common respect for each other and have become good friends in their efforts to preserve what they see as common values. This will mark his first ever appearance at Liberty University.

The McCain-Falwell courtship has been nurtured for a while now. Six months ago, McCain’s office confirmed that the senator had met with Falwell. Now these meetings have led to a fruitful relationship. It’s a match made in … somewhere unpleasant.

McCain has no excuse for this. If he’s capable of feeling shame, this would be a good time for it. This is, after, the same Falwell that McCain (accurately) criticized as “an agent of intolerance.” In 2000, McCain blasted Falwell for his vicious smears on McCain’s campaign, and said they were motivated by the fact that McCain refused to “pander” to the religious right.

I guess that won’t be a problem in 2008.

It’s important to emphasize that Jerry Falwell is not just another nutty TV preacher. We all had a good laugh when Falwell alerted Christian parents to the dangers posed by Tinky Winky the Teletubby, whom Falwell believed might be part of the “homosexual agenda.”

But McCain’s new buddy had some far less amusing comments on Sept. 13, 2001, just 48 hours after the terrorist attacks and while rescue crews were still sorting through the rubble at Ground Zero. While most of us were putting aside our differences, Falwell lashed out at Americans — whom he held responsible for the attacks. “The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this [attack] because God will not be mocked,” Falwell said. “And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad.” Falwell then launched into a hateful tirade against every group he is filled with rage against — religious minorities, abortion-rights advocates, feminists, gays and advocates of church-state separation. “I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen,'” Falwell said.

Falwell has crossed, repeatedly, practically every line of decency that America values. I lack the space to recount every outrageous comment this clown has said publicly, but here’s a few of his “greatest hits.” Gays, Jews, public schools, Muslims, women … Falwell hates everyone and everything that isn’t like him.

And now John McCain is so desperate to run for president, he wants to befriend Falwell. It’s pathetic.

Post Script: I have an idea for a campaign strategy in 2008, if McCain successfully gets the nomination. It’s called, “I like the old John McCain better.” McCain’s a popular guy nationwide, so it would be necessary to explain how the McCain that Dems and Independents respected has been replaced. I envision a series of ads featuring regular people in real settings, talking about the change for the worse.

“John McCain used to oppose reckless tax cuts for billionaires; now he’s for them. I like the old John McCain better.” “John McCain used to criticize hateful TV preachers; now he’s friends with them. I like the old John McCain better.” “McCain used to stand up against corporate lobbyists in Congress; now he cozies up to them. I like the old John McCain better.” I wonder if TheOldMcCain.com is available for registration….

I think your campaign strategy is brilliant; make sure it gets sent to the appropriate candidate(s) if and when McCain is nominated!

  • “Falwell alerted Christian parents to the dangers posed by Tinky Winky the Teletubby, whom Falwell believed might be part of the ‘homosexual agenda.'” – CB

    But he had it on such reliable authority 😉 The gay/lesbian press said that Tinky Winky’s purple color and hand bag proved he was a homosexual icon.

    What fascinates me is not McCain’s conversion to Republicanite opportunist (repeative, that) but the conversion of Jerry Fawell and others who deemed McCain a danger (Manchurian Candidate, anyone?) in 2000. It seems to be remarkable easy to get the evangelical vote these days. Consider the lifetime commitment Sen. Sam Brownback has made to these people, and they position themselves to dump him and take up McCain.

    I suppose after five years of George W. Bush, even Theocratic Reactionaries are getting a little ansy about keeping control.

  • Great idea for an ad campaign! At least a few ads against him will also have to feature that shot of him and Bush with the birthday cake, while people were drowning in New Orleans, though. I’d say that also speaks volumes about what kind of politician he’s become.

  • Great point Alan, and CB that is a wonderful idea.

    I think G2000 says it all. But McCain has been dead to me since he energetically embraced and fondled George Bush back in the 2004 campaign.

  • All McCain will accomplish with this one-sided love affair will be to convince his former supporters that he’s a lap dog of guys like Falwell and Robertson. Neither the Revs nor their followers will vote for him. Me neither.

  • I think Karl Rove is behind this. After all, he likes being a king-maker and he likes the power. He was behind the election of Bush to be governor, then President, and now he is ready to make another king – John McCain.

    McCain has sold his soul to the devil and if the Dems were smart, they should start their campaign against McCain now. Just as Repubs have started their campaign against Hillary, calling her angry, the Dems should start dropping little hints about McCain, calling him a Bush clone.

  • Ijust want to say that I think it’s really important for people to accept that McCain is just two-faced.

    I know it’s may be more satisfying to tell ourselves that we weren’t ‘fooled’ and that McCain was totally sincere before. But I think if we’re looking at things in a clear, detached way– we know it’s not realistic to think that someone who has values just gets seduced in five minutes flat.

    No, I think his prior ‘commitments’ and ‘values’ were actually very shallow and transitory ineed.

  • Trying to force the facts to fit into a more satisfying belief, where McCain was totally sincere before, is just not a good practice. It’s a bad habit. It’s not going to help people see things clearly in the future.

  • Back when Alberto Gonzales was being voted on for the post of Attorney General, Harry Reid, I believe it was, gave a stirring speech about the horror and shame of torture and even quoted McCain’s own words. McCain, looking on, then voted for Gonzales and made him our Inquisitor-in-Chief. A man who would experience torture, decry it, and then vote in favor of it as state policy is a man devoid of conscience.

    That was the moment McCain irrevocably jumped the shark for me.

  • Frankly, I think it is a joke that ‘conservatives’ are now going to be happy because Mr. Flibble et al are realizing just how right-wing John McCain is.

    Do they need us to tell them who are real conservatives in the Republicanite party?

    The reasons forwarded by the establishment in 2000 to oppose McCain still apply today. Or does all this toadying overcome those concerns? I think Jim Strain has it right. Jerry Fawell and Pat Robertson should be supporting Sen. George Allen, or at least Sam Brownback. But I suppose consistency is not one of their virtues.

  • Lance,
    This goes beyond simply McCain’s presidential ambitions–he is routinely portrayed by the media as one of the “sane” voices in the GOP. Consequently, the GOP can use the credit his name is worth to help legitimize whatever destructive and horrid nonsense they want to pull. There aren’t many GOP radicals that can pull that trick; McCain is one of them. And that is why he is dangerous.

    More’s the pity if the radicals of the GOP are laughing into their sleeves at his insincere posturing.

    Anyway, whatever McCain may be, it is not a conservative. Unless that word no longer has any meaning. I see more conservative sentiment on this blog than I have from all five years of the Bush administration.

  • In a way, I think McCain and Hillary are different sides of the same coin. Both are making such flagrant moves to attract voters they don’t normally have that all they have accomplished is alienating those who liked them in the first place. McCain will get his in the end though — because the Republicans will still not like him enough to give him the nomination. I hope the Democrats can be just as fortunate at keeping the nomination away from Hillary because she can’t win nationally and anyone who suddenly promotes amendments against flag burning and laws punishing retailers who sell video games to minors — even if she doesn’t mean it — has no principles and just ambition and shouldn’t be rewarded because she has a name and money when she really has no base.

  • I do not now nor have I every liked McCain; He is now and always has been a conservative. McCain is also one of the press corps untouchables. Another one is Colin Powell. Bob Somerby has tracked McCain’s favorable press image over the years.

    […R]ecent profiles have made McCain’s campaign read like a male boomer fantasy camp. Middle-aged pundits ride around with a hero who tells them how bright they all turned out to be. They hear tales of McCain showing up drunk on dates and crashing through the screen doors of his girl friends.

    Have reporters lost perspective due to their “swoon?” Some have openly worried about it. Reporters have clearly fallen in love with The Story—the remarkable story of McCain’s Vietnam service. Accounts of McCain’s suffering—and of his unique sense of humor—dominate most of the profiles.

    But The Story—the one the press corps loves—is the story of McCain’s early life. At times it has crowded out basic facts about his life as an adult….

    Here is the result of a Google search on McCain from the Daily Howler. Explore it at your leisure.

  • I think Mccain is a Phoney, and probably always has been. What a surprise! A phoney politician! I am glad he stood against torture, but I’m sad he voted with the engineers of torture so many times. He doesn’t deserve the office of Senator, let alone President. I am so tired of these jerks violating the public trust, and he is just another violator as far as I’m concerned.

  • Maybe Falwell has it backwards. 9/11 wasn’t God’s punishment to the U.S. for our gay rights and abortion. Maybe he was just rewarding fanatic Muslims for their intolerance. Maybe that’s why he gave them so much oil as well.

  • McCain won’t go anywhere with this stunt. He alienated the hard right with his earlier gambits, he’s now alienating the hard-left with his current stunts and posings—and he’ll always be known now to everyone in between as “Uncle Wishy Washy.” And, all he’s done is buy himself a brief calm before the storm. Falwell and company will turn right around and bite this guy—probably somewhere in late 2007 or right at the beginning of 2008. All they’re probably doing is cooling down McCain’s jets to keep him from punching away at the Reich’s “heir apparent”—which simply will never be John McCain….

  • I think he’s setting himself up for a “Sister Souljah moment”. He gives the fundies the respect they want, but is just stern enough with them to make the non-fundies happy. He’ll be threading the needle to do it though.

  • My moniker is not for sale; trademark infringement!

    “a maverick no more.”

    McCain has sold his soul. Bastard.

  • “And now John McCain is so desperate to run for president, he wants to befriend Falwell. It’s pathetic.”

    Yes and no.

    Yes because it trully is pathetic.

    And no… because–
    You have to be a shit-eater to get the job of President.

    McCain is merely proving to everyone that he has got the maw and the stomach for the job….

  • McCain the shape shifter.
    The “old McCain” was fashioned to fill a niche as maverick of principle calculated to win power as a moderate repub..
    But now there are no more moderate repubs… he morphs into a super patriot big money friendly Falwellite.
    If the polls indicated an advantage….. McCain would wear a tin foil hat, communicate with aliens, and become an advocate of animals wearing clothes.

  • This goes beyond simply McCain’s presidential ambitions–he is routinely portrayed by the media as one of the “sane” voices in the GOP

    Yeah, and the media routinely portray Ayatollah Sistani as one of the “sane” voices in Iraq, the same Sistani who says gays should be killed in the most horrible way possible (and that, my friends, is saying something considering Iraq these days!).

    Like many of the others above, McCain toasted himself out of my book with any number of his moves since 2000, and I knew he was too conservative for me even then. If only he’d heed what another conservative Arizona senator had to say about Jerry Falwell back in the day:

    “I don’t have any respect for the Religious Right. There is no place in this country for practicing religion in politics. That goes for Falwell, Robertson and all the rest of these political preachers. They are a detriment to the country.” — Interview by The Advocate

    or my favorite:

    “Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.” — Goldwater’s response to Jerry Falwell stating he was concerned that Sandra Day O’Connor might be moderate on abortion and other social issues, 1981.

    Ah, Barry! Who’d have thought liberals would one day look upon your views with nostalgia?

  • I used to respect McCain but he has become the ultimate extreme politician. Anything to win, party before country.

  • Straight talk doesn’t get anyone elected in America. McCain is just adapting to the beast. Who among us has not compromised their values by living in this system? McCain merely symbolizes the fact that no hero is going to rise up and give us any kind of vision to get us off the track over the cliff. Ambivalence reigns as we all swallow our bitter medicine that just eases the pain but offers no cure.

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