{"id":9776,"date":"2007-01-30T13:15:44","date_gmt":"2007-01-30T18:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/9776.html"},"modified":"2007-01-30T13:15:44","modified_gmt":"2007-01-30T18:15:44","slug":"a-mccain-flip-flop-two-fer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/a-mccain-flip-flop-two-fer\/","title":{"rendered":"A McCain flip-flop two-fer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told Roger Simon<\/a> that he’d consider a kind of redeploy-to-perimeter strategy in Iraq if the latest escalation fails. While acknowledging that “there are no good options,” McCain said one scenario would “to withdraw to the borders (of Iraq) to try to keep other countries from interfering. Maintaining our bases in Kuwait and other places.” It was at least a little encouraging — McCain suddenly seemed open to something resembling a redeployment plan.<\/p>\n

Last night, as McCain is inclined to do, he reversed course entirely<\/a>, telling CNN that he prefers an open-ended commitment.<\/p>\n

It didn’t take long for McCain to backtrack from redeployment. Last night, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, McCain said under no scenario would he consider withdrawing troops, even if escalation fails. He said he would only consider it when “we have the situation under control.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, last week McCain is open to redeployment; this week he isn’t. Next week, who knows? For a guy who has this much trouble with being consistent, anything’s possible. Maybe the various McCains can have a debate and let us know what the senator’s position is after they’re done.<\/p>\n

Better yet, this CNN interview was actually a flip-flop two-fer.<\/p>\n

In the interview, McCain also said Vice President Cheney was wrong to state that there have been enormous successes in Iraq. McCain claimed he has “bitterly disagreed” with the “failed strategy” for more than three years. In fact, here’s what he said approximately a year ago<\/a>: “I think the situation on the ground is going to improve. I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we weren’t making progress, I’d be despondent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, you know what this means…
\n
\n…it’s time to update the big list. We are now up to a whopping 17 John McCain Flip-Flops.<\/p>\n

* 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* 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<\/a> that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”<\/p>\n

* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal<\/a> of [tag]Roe v. Wade[\/tag] to saying the exact opposite<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed<\/a>, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain criticized TV preacher [tag]Jerry Falwell[\/tag] as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man<\/a> who said Americans “deserved” the 9\/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired<\/a> Falwell’s debate coach.)<\/p>\n

* McCain used to oppose Bush’s [tag]tax cuts[\/tag] for the very wealthy, but he reversed course<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

* 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned<\/a> his own legislation.<\/p>\n

* 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<\/a> with Norquist.<\/p>\n

* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it<\/a>. [corrected]<\/p>\n

* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

* McCain is now both open and closed<\/a> to redeployment in Iraq.<\/p>\n

* 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<\/a>” just one year ago.<\/p>\n

Don’t you just love John McCain’s “straight talk”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told Roger Simon that he’d consider a kind of redeploy-to-perimeter strategy in Iraq if the latest escalation fails. While acknowledging that “there are no good options,” McCain said one scenario would “to withdraw to the borders (of Iraq) to try to keep other countries from interfering. Maintaining our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}