McCain’s McPrinciples

November 7, 2005

In February 2000, Sen. John McCain took one of the bolder steps any Republican presidential candidate had taken in a very long time. In the midst of a fierce competition with then-Gov. George W. Bush, McCain traveled to Virginia Beach, home of Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, in advance of Virginia’s GOP primary, to take a stand against the religious right.

“We are the party of Ronald Reagan, not Pat Robertson. We are the party of Theodore Roosevelt, not the party of special interests. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not Bob Jones. […]

“Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.”

It was an all-or-nothing gamble for candidate McCain. He’d either inspire the parts of the GOP that have no use for theocratic clowns like Robertson and Falwell, or the far-right base would rally to crush his campaign. As we now know, the gamble didn’t work in McCain’s favor.

Now, of course, McCain is gearing up for another presidential run. Will he stick to the principles that have garnered bi-partisan praise? Not so much.

Sen. John McCain is taking action to make it hard for conservatives to write him off in the 2008 presidential race. His office confirms that the maverick moderate recently met with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a conservative icon who is influential with voters on the right.

Yes, just five years after denouncing Falwell as a symptom of what’s wrong with the Republican Party, McCain apparently wants to smooth over his differences with Falwell. McCain, the Republican who holds himself out as a reform-minded moderate, is chatting in private with a TV preacher who blamed 9/11 on Americans, believes Tinky Winky is part of the “homosexual agenda,” and insists that God does not answer the prayers of “any unredeemed Gentile or Jew.”

Given the context of McCain’s presidential ambitions, it’s probably safe to assume the senator didn’t give Falwell a private audience just so he could remind the TV preacher that he’s an “agent of intolerance.” More likely, it was to remind Falwell that McCain is now on board with intelligent-design creationism and an anti-gay amendment in Arizona.

I know there are plenty of Dems who admire McCain and are inclined to believe he’s a reasonable moderate. Now is probably a good time for these Dems to concede the error of these beliefs.

My hope has always been that McCain is a real conservative.

Not a borrow and spend, please every special interest, no real values, our agenda is so important it’s okay to lie, cheat and commit felonies to get our way Bushite.

  • It really is sickening to watch McCain kowtow to the GOP Taliban after the way Rove arranged for good christian folk to trash him in the South Carolina primary. He really is turning … from maverick to kiss-ass to brown-nose. I can’t for the life of me explain why anyone in either party or the media would give a good god damn what sleazeballs like Falwell and Robertson think of the hummuh-seck-shul agenda or anything else for that matter. We are a very degraded nation.

  • No surprise here. McCain is an unprincipled coward. Always has been. Only reason he took his approach in 2000 is because Chimpy beat him to the other side.

  • I’m with bubba. McCain has attempted to project himself as “principled” for year. Yet who was one of the most influential voices in lending cover to Bush’s war? And why did he do it? To maintain viability as a future Presidential candidate.

  • I’ll admit, I’ve respected McCain in the past. But that fell apart when he started campaigning with Bush, fell more with that creationism crap, and fell more today. McCain is just like the rest of them, except he has better p.r.

  • Too old, I think. I find it unlikely the GOP will put a septuagenarian in the driver’s seat. McCain will be 72 by the election in 2008.

    Of course I’m overlooking the glaring history with Regan, but that also worked against him in his later years.

  • I think its hilarious to watch the far left bitch about McCain. The same lot of you probably supported Sheehan, who… McCain met with.

    McCain meets with people. He pushes anti-torture amendments. He is principled. I know its hard to comprehend but get the hell over it. McCain does not like the federal government telling you what to do, but if the state government – more likely made up of real representatives – decides to do so… that is in line with his beliefs on government.

    I want to see a decent Democrat vs McCain in 08.

    Yeah McCain supported the war – easy to forget that a majority of democrats did too huh? – McCain saw Vietnam and he does not want to redo that mistake.

    You guys sound like the kind that think pulling out of Iraq is an option. Its not. Not unless you want another Afghanistan.

    You also probably supported Kerry as a viable candidate. He wasn’t. You probably supported Dean too. He wasn’t and never will be.

    McCain is one of the best things that could happen to this country. In the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt.

  • McCain sucks and will do anything to try and get elected. He is NOT moderate. Yes, I do believe in the anti torture bill he added to the budget. I’ll give him a point for that but I still think he’s a bum.

  • Hi I missed the trashing of John McCain by Rove in South Carolina. What happened? I like McCain but he sure does waver. He should have stood up for himself when attacked in South Carolina. He surely sends mixed messages to folks.

  • “McCain meets with people. He pushes anti-torture amendments. He is principled. I know its hard to comprehend but get the hell over it.”

    And you’re delusional, but keep ranting; it makes the case that all republicans worship their leaders with a cultlike refusal to accept reality (the reality that your team is responsible for such un-American things like torture, treason, and the deaths of over 2000 servicemen for starters) And can you really not figure out McCains’s political reasoning? If he’s seen as being against torture, hopefully he can distance himself from your presidents disastrous record, and maintain viability for ’08 – it has nothing to do with your child-like assertions. He’s simply trying to put distance between himself and a failed policy – understand now, little one?

  • Sorry, CB. I gotta disagree with you here big time. McCain may not be a moderate, but he has never claimed to be. He IS reform-minded (McCain-Feingold? voting against the highway bill? voting against DOMA? the anti-torture bill?) It seems that many of today’s posters believe that there is no such thing as a good man who holds Republican beliefs. That’s just wrong. Yes, McCain has about a 70% ranking from the American Conservative Union. Does that make him a bad person? Does that mean he wants to make America an imperialist power? No.

    And I’m sorry, but the ‘company-you-keep’ thing does not work here. Religious beliefs are not what McCain is about, as opposed to a guy like Sam Brownback. That is like saying that by meeting with Yasser Arafat, Bill Clinton supported terrorism.

    McCain has to meet with Robertson for political reasons. Is this unforteante? Yes. Does it show how much control the religious right has over the Elephant? Yes. Does it mean that John McCain believes Tinky Winky is part of the homosexual agenda? Absolutely not.

  • I think its a non-issue that McCain is meeting with Robertson. He’s a republican, Robertson, for better or worse, controls a huge block of repub voters (deluded fools though they may be).
    McCain is taking the biggest stand against Bush right now, arguably every bit as big as Reid’s move the other day. Both of these stands weaken the current corrupt administration’s positions.

    Bitch and moan all you want- but he’s as moderate as Republicans get. And to a lot of us in the middle, but with Liberal leanings, he’s a godsend (heh). Right now there is a lot of progress to be made, but to be progressive to get away from either radical side, we have to take small steps.

    Vilifying the most vocal Right wing critic of this administration isn’t going to help us get progress. Like it or not, The Democrats aren’t going to rise up and overtake the United states. Not when half of them are just as corrupt as the average Republican. We need bi-partisan efforts to A. Get out of Iraq, which is entirely possible, and will happen. B. Impeach Bush- which a lot of that depends on how the Libby trial turns out and if any new information arises, such as the Al-liby tortured “confessions” that ended up being false.
    The bottom line is McCain is a good man, who is a conservative. Not meeting with the religious arm of the Republican party is an IMPOSSIBILITY for any Republican.
    So Get over it.

  • Anyone watching McCain’s performance for Bush at the 2004 RNC in New York understands where McCain stands on “the ends justify the means.”

    Yes, you have to do dirty things in politics. But hug a man who arranged the smear of your entire family?

    I don’t think so.l

  • My take on McCain has always been that I disagreed with him on 75 percent of the issues, but respected his integrity and particularly his faith in the ability of the voters to get things right. To me, that’s what campaign finance reform is really about: the public’s capacity to make decisions without undue interference by monied interests. Level playing fields, fair elections, more-participatory democracy.

    I’m starting to believe, though, that he’s making so many compromises in hopes of getting into power, that he’ll have no soul left if/when he makes it.

  • #11

    Huh? Remember the Keating Five?

    All the things you list could be because he genuinely believes in making the country a better place – or because it is politically expedient for a run in ’08. And how do you tell the difference? This guy is campaigning in liberal California for a change in the state’s redistricting rules – a change he’s NOT championing for in conservative Arizona. Hypocrite? You bet. Principaled? Hardly.

  • To #9: Rove conducted a quiz in South Carolina. I belive the question went something like this:

    Would you be more or less inclined to vote for John McCain if you knew that he has an illegtimate black child?

    What Rove forgot to mention was that McCain and his wife, years ago, has adopted said child from an orphange in Bangledesh.

  • “You guys sound like the kind that think pulling out of Iraq is an option. Its not. Not unless you want another Afghanistan.” shloky

    Heh.. didnt the USA start the crap in Afghanistan?

    Anyways, I dont know about McCain I really want to respect the man but after what the Shrubistas did to him and the way he’s been acting right now. Its like he’s decided that the ends justify the means. Kinda hard to have principles if you are trying to get into office by , umm… well lying to the voters just to get votes and then turning around to do the exact opposite of what was promised. For somereason that type of political campaigning seems familiar… like… it happened not too long ago… maybe… 2000… possibly…. * cough cough *

  • McCain is very much a mixed bag. Just when you start to think he is highly principled he does something like campaign with Bushco who smeared fellow Vietnam vets Kerry and Cleland for their service records but also McCain and his family. I lost complete respect for him then. Before that, I didn’t always agree with him (starting with calling Vietnamese “gooks” – not exactly Presidential behavior) but I thought he was his own man. Ha! Not if he is willing to be used by Bush and now by Arnold…..especially since he doesn’t need to…..

    I do think he’ll win if he runs, though.

  • And you’re delusional, but keep ranting; it makes the case that all republicans worship their leaders with a cultlike refusal to accept reality (the reality that your team is responsible for such un-American things like torture, treason, and the deaths of over 2000 servicemen for starters)

    Yeah, everything I said screamed Republican right?

    Wrong. I am in fact a member of the Democratic Party. But that is secondary to my ideological framework based around common sense. Strong national security, social progress and acceptance and the like.

    Of course, anyone who supports McCain as a strong figure of what politicians should beb – effective, sell their souls as little as possible, and effective – is a Republican right?

    Get over shallow partisan labels. It’s a Rove trick and Democrats suck at playing Rovian politics.

    Unless we find a decent candidate for 08 I will be voting for McCain. Simply put, he has a common sense mentality, sticks to his principles, and is effective.

    Every idealist we have thrown out in the past 8 years has been crushed by Republicans. Primarily because we suck at playing politics and also because the american public has shifted to a more conservative viewpoint.

    Find a democratic alternative to an upstanding guy like McCain. I may stand beside him, as may every other swing voter in the country.

    And you followed up with some condescending bullshit in the form of “little one”. Grow up gramps.

  • Good call on Nelson. Any one of the 14 screams common sense.

    Yeah we may have helped Afghanistan, you can also blame it on the Soviets. I don’t particularly want to make that mistake twice.

    Someone want to point out where McCain shifted on Iraq?

  • Frankly, I’d prefer to see McCain on the ticket than a true wingnut like Tancredo or Santorum. While it’s unlikely that a right wing extremist could win the White House again in 2008, it’s not impossible, especially if they have Diebold on their side. Like Bush, and maybe even Clinton before him, McCain may be just assuming a posture to achieve the broadest possible support in his run for the presidency. Then, once in the White House he’d put forth his true agenda, whatever that may be. For my part, I would never support any Republican. Not ever, no matter what kind of lame brain loser is on the Dem’s ticket.

  • I could support a Republican–if that Republican actually had a consistent record of voting that matched the views of his/her constituency and those views are not too far out of the mainstream. Problem is, this rarely is the case. As I’ve stated before, I could have easily voted for someone like George Voinovich for president had his votes in the Senate truly reflected the overall views of his constituency, or even if he voted as his prior track record as city councilman, mayor and governor reflected. But it seems that once he got smacked down by the far right of his party after voting no on the second round of tax cuts, he became quite tame, with the exceptional peep at times or in positions that just did not make a difference.

  • John McCain through his credibility on the Colin Powell Memorial Slagheap during the 2004 campaign. There is nothing left of him but a sad ambition to be president. His campaign appearances with Bush reminded me of an abused wife.

  • McCain has been at Schwarzenegger’s elbow in California of late—bad move/wrong decision—Arnie is going down tomorrow.

  • I’ve long believed (thanks to my own father) that the only things a person truly believes in are the things that they will stick up for when it costs them something.

    McCain cut an ad for a redistricting initiative in CA – which would probably help the GOP. He did not do an ad for an almost identical initiative in Ohio, which would help Dems more (nothing short of a nuclear threat is ever going to help the GOP in statewide and national elections in CA – especially now that Arnold has left the taste of shissa in our mouths after sampling a ‘different’ brand of GOP).

    I don’t dislike McCain because his is conservative. I dislike McCain because he would eat dog shit on national TV to be president.

    I dispise the crazy senator from OK’s policies, but I at least give him cudos for standing by his principles (such as they are) even when it costs him standing and power in his own party.

    -jjf

  • “I dislike McCain because he would eat dog shit on national TV to be president.”

    Fitz, sounds like a great idea for a reality TV series–“What I wouldn’t Do to Be President”

  • Yeah, if McCain had any principles other than blowing in the wind, bootlicking and cynical pandering, he could be a decent candidate for president.

    What a schmoe. I appreciate his stand on the torture issue, but that’s like rewarding a baby for drooling.

  • Right because congressmen across the board have been proposing torture amendments and sticking by them… and having the clout to do so while breaking with both party lines.

    No one here has pointed out any consistent McCain pandering. Everyone here has pointed to redistricting in California – who knows, maybe California does require redistricting and Ohio doesn’t – but no one has a memory long enough to look at McCain’s stances throughout his tenure in congress which, suprisingly enough, is longer than the last few months.

    This blowing in the wind talk is coming from the same people who supported Kerry.

  • hey dano..

    az already has a bipartisan redistricting commission, one of only a handful of state’s which does. that’s why mccain is supporting it in cal. ’cause it works in az. cal is following our lead.
    az is not as red as you think. med pot passed here twice by a 70-30 split. az also has public campaign financing for all statewide offices. we have a dem gov w/65% approval.

  • Floating a balloon here..but how ’bout an Edwards/Clark ticket? I see the merits of two strong principled persons. Am I in need of therapy or is this doable?

  • Clark for sure. Edwards? Oh yeah, he’s the guy who disappeared after signing on with Kerry. Did he disappear or did Kerry screw that up too?

    Clark for sure.

  • Don’t kid yourselves, chatting with Falwell or stumping for Bush doesn’t make him any less principled than any other presidential candidate.

    And he’s not a moderate at all, he’s a party maverick, meaning he doesn’t stick to his party’s script.

  • One of the guys who helped down the jet in PA on 9/11 was a McCain supporter–and gay. MCCain was reputedly touched by his sacrifice on behalf of the Congress and said so. Now McCain is off toadying up to Falwell–who blamed 9/11 on gays and lesbians. So what does that make McCain? What you would suspect–a person who can’t be trusted, ie a politician. May they all rot in Hell.

  • I agree with the others – politics makes for strange bed fellows. I always encourage those sleeping around for political reasons to always put a thingy on their thingy. Who knows what diseases those wacky religious people might give you otherwise? Could make you queer!

    For those of you that believe in principled politics, know that your idealism is not wrong, just that our political system is motivated by many things, and Machiavelli’s theory is as predictive (if not more so) than theories based on politicians make choices for principles they believe in, like “justice, peace, Americanism, etc.”

  • “hey dano..

    az already has a bipartisan redistricting commission, one of only a handful of state’s which does. that’s why mccain is supporting it in cal. ’cause it works in az. cal is following our lead.
    az is not as red as you think. med pot passed here twice by a 70-30 split. we have a dem gov w/65% approval.”

    So your claim is that California’ law will be the same as Arizona’s?
    Does Arizona’s “bipartisan” redistricting commission consist of three retired judges, as the proposal is in Ca.? I think we’re talking apples and oranges here, unless yours is similar. I don’t see how three judges are “bipartisan”; one side has two judges, and the other side, one. And why would we want to follow that? John McCain should butt out of California politics – unless you ‘Zonies don’t mind californians blanketing YOUR state with misleading advertising just prior to an election?

    And as far as the pot legislation, I think the state’s libertarianist bent brought that about, not some sudden change to liberalism. Sheriff Joe Arpao [sp] is still lockin’ ’em up at the same rate as ever, right?

    “az also has public campaign financing for all statewide offices.”

    Didn’t I read that the republicans have introduced a bill in Arizona’s legislature banning that?

  • Usual politics, so why is everybody surprised. The American public means nothing to the power hungry.

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