McCain still desperate to tell the right what it wants to hear

October 31, 2007

The trajectory of John McCain’s standing in the race for the Republican presidential nomination has been a sight to behold. He was declared the front-runner (if not the presumptive nominee) far too early, and then declared dead-in-the-water, also prematurely, shortly thereafter.

But through it all, the one constant has been McCain’s desire to abandon every policy position he used to hold dear. The far-right Washington Times noted a few recent reversals I hadn’t noticed.

Sen. John McCain has quietly been piling up flip-flops, including ditching his long-held support for the Law of the Sea convention and telling bloggers he now opposes the DREAM Act to legalize illegal alien students.

The sea treaty has become the latest litmus test for the 2008 Republican presidential field, and after a decade-long record of public support for it, Mr. McCain has pivoted to bring himself in line with the rest of the candidates.

“I would probably vote against it in its present form,” he told bloggers last week during a conference call.

Throughout the 1990s, McCain urged the Senate to ratify the Law of the Sea convention, and as recently as 2003, he volunteered to testify on behalf of the treaty before a Senate committee.

But the GOP base has convinced itself that the LOS treaty would somehow destroy national sovereignty (it wouldn’t), so McCain has done a full 180-degree turn.

Likewise, last week, the Senate considered the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. McCain was a co-sponsor of the bipartisan legislation. Now he’s against it.

So much for “straight talk.”

Of course, long-time readers know what this means. Itt’s time to update the big list of John McCain Biggest Flip-Flops.

* In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he now opposes the measure.

* McCain has been both open and closed to a redeploy-to-perimeter strategy in Iraq.

* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”

* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.

* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.

* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.

* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.

* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.

* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.

* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.

* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.

* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.

* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.

* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.

* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.

* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.'” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.

* And McCain claims to have “bitterly disagreed” with a “failed strategy” in Iraq for more than three years, despite having argued the need to “stay the course” repeatedly.

It’s a shame what running for the Republican nomination will do to a guy, isn’t it?

That’s wonderfully handy list if you’re dealing with anyone who cares about consistency.

Consistency may be “the hobgoblin of small minds”, but the Republican base makes anyone who’s only “small minded” look like a genius. The wingnuts don’t care if a candidate is consistent on any issue*, except one: That the Democrats are evil and must be stopped. That explains why charges of flip-flopping only work against Democrats.

* OK, they do care about a few other issues, which explains why the Larry Craig issue is so much fun.

  • McCainbow is truly living up to his name, alternating his positions from opposing ends of the political spectrum in an attempt to get elected.

    That’s called pandering, my friends.

  • This is probably McCain’s last chance for the presidency, and that may be driving his desperate flip-flopping.

    I haven’t seen any studies but sure think they’d be interesting about the motives that drive people to run for the presidency. I mean the real motives, not the high-flown pablum offered by politicians when they’re asked the question. Everybody would probably agree that it isn’t about the money while in office. It’s certainly rare that a candidate has a clear and integrated view about America’s historic ideals and how to achieve or improve them, though the neocons have NEW ideals for America that violate nearly every US and international law. And it’s all about imperialistic power, the ability and willingness to crush other nations if they don’t put America’s interests before their own. Politicians on the right have been clear about what they’d do from the get-go, even if they didn’t toss Leo Strauss’s name around on the campaign trail to explain their motives.

    The big question in my mind about John McCain is whether he actually buys into the neocon agenda, or is he flip-flopping toward them because he desperately wants the power and visibility of the presidency, even if he has to champion their vision. I wonder the same thing about Hillary.

  • I have no problem with elected officials changing their minds on issues as they become convinced their old stances have been refuted by better information, but McCain is doing what is supposed to rile the public about this whole concept of flip-flopping: he doesn’t care if the new position is right or wrong, only if it’s politically advantageous.

    To make matters worse for McCain, he seems unable to see that he is hitching his fortunes to a fading star, to a movement whose time has gone and lies discredited. Any “leader” who can’t read the tea leaves about the changing winds of political discourse should’t be put in a position of greater authority.

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