Great op-ed detailing a few of McCain's complete policy 180's

[motivez]

Over the last year or so, when John McCain was struggling to get his presidential campaign back on track, one of his more notable challenges was reinventing himself — again.

When he got to Congress, McCain was a rather conventional conservative Republican. After his role in the Keating Five scandal, McCain took on a reform-minded persona. By 1999, he was a self-described “maverick” and moderate, who would move the GOP to the center. By 2004, McCain was back to being a conservative again. By 2007, he had positioned himself as an establishment Republican, and when that didn’t work out, McCain decided he’d become some kind of hybrid of the various McCains of the recent past.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say McCain has very few core values, and is willing to shift with the wind to get ahead. It’s one of the reasons he’s flip-flopped all over the place throughout the campaign.

This became especially clear the other night at the Republican debate in Simi Valley, when McCain was asked whether he’d vote for the immigration-reform legislation he introduced in 2006. He responded that the bill won’t come to the floor of the Senate. Of course, that wasn’t the question.

HOOK: I know [it won’t come to the floor], but what if it did?
MCCAIN: No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the border secured first. And so to say that that would come to the floor of the Senate, it won’t. […]
COOPER: So I just want to confirm. You would not vote for your bill as it originally was –
MCCAIN: My bill will not be voted on. It will not be voted on.

That’s obviously quite a bit of evasion for Mr. “Straight Talk,” but it got me thinking: how many McCain-sponsored bills is McCain prepared to vote against?

Let’s see…
* He said this week that he’d vote against his own immigration plan.
* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now, if the treaty comes to the Senate floor, he’s vowed to vote against it.
* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. In 2007, to make the far-right base happy, he voted against the bill he had taken the lead on.
* 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 he’d backed.
* McCain used to support major campaign-finance reform measures that bore his name. In June 2007, McCain announced his opposition to a major McCain-Feingold provision.

It’s one thing to shift with the political winds, and I’ll gladly concede that there are worse qualities in a presidential candidate than changing one’s mind about a policy matter or two. Indeed, McCain has been in Congress for a quarter-century; he’s bound to shift now and then on various issues.
But these aren’t just random bills that McCain voted on — these are bills that he personally championed — recently. And now, after McCain sponsored the bills, he’s not even willing to vote for them anymore.
And even that wouldn’t be entirely beyond the pale, except one of McCain’s principal selling points is his alleged consistency and willingness to take politically unpopular decisions.

Something to keep in mind as general election strategies unfold.

When McCain opposes his own legislation

Those are just a few examples, but it should be clear to anyone supporting him that he's a huge phony, and lacks the character and testicular fortitude to stand up for something he obviously believes in if it means he can't be President..

Most of his positions today are so blatantly carefully calculated to appeal to the current Republican base that I don't know how anyone can take him seriously as a candidate. If he can't do what's hard when it's not politically viable, how is he going to tackle any of the hard issues facing this country?

The answer is obvious: He wont.

Say what you want about Hillary's pandering, McCain wins first by a mile when it comes to this stuff.. not even Kerry's record can touch the massive 180 done by John McCain..

I've said before McCain traded in his maverick badge, it's nice to see that idea getting some play in the media now.. especially after Obama made the joke that the wheels came off the Straight Talk Express. I hope the media will start to focus in on this stuff instead of giving him mostly a free pass like they tend to do.

[Thorgrim]

Robert Novak, a very respected source (unless you're a liberal)

Has confirmed that this took place:

McCain NOW: Alito was a "magnificent" choice.
McCain THEN: "Wouldn't it be great if you get a chance to name somebody like Roberts and Alito?" one lawyer commented. McCain replied, "Well, certainly Roberts." Jaws were described as dropping. My sources cannot remember exactly what McCain said next, but their recollection is that he described Alito as too conservative.

More:
McCain said to him, off the record, that as president he would have to raise taxes. More recently McCain has told me, on the record, that he would never support a tax increase and, consequently, favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

washingtonpost.com

[Thorgrim]

You can't go through one respected newspaper without finding tons of shit he's done...the man is an endless opportunist:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent

...

Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain’s case, they said, it was McCain’s top strategist who came to them.

At the end of their March 31, 2001 lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Bethesda, Md., Downey said Weaver asked why Democrats hadn’t asked McCain to switch parties.

Downey, a well-connected lobbyist, said he was stunned.

“You’re really wondering?” Downey said he told Weaver. “What do you mean you’re wondering?”

“Well, if the right people asked him,” Weaver said, according to Downey, adding that he responded, “The calls will be made. Who do you want?” Weaver this week said he did have lunch with Downey that spring, pointing out that he and Downey “are very good friends.”

...

Daschle noted that McCain at that time was frustrated with the Bush administration as a result of his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary.

Daschle said that throughout April and May of 2001, he and McCain “had meetings and conversations on the floor and in his office, I think in mine as well, about how we would do it, what the conditions would be. We talked about committees and his seniority … [A lot of issues] were on the table.”

...

In one article, Marshall Wittman, a McCain loyalist and strategist six years ago, put the odds of McCain leaving the Republican Party at “50-50.” Wittman, who now works for Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), declined to comment for this article. [Lieberman backed McCain over Clinton and Obama]

...

On page 62, Daschle wrote that McCain and Chafee “seemed like real possibilities” to bolt their party. He pointed out that few, if any, of McCain’s people were hired by the Bush administration.

“John didn’t think that was right,” Daschle wrote, “that his staff should be penalized like that.”

Chafee confirmed to The Hill this week that he had meetings with Democrats about changing parties in 2001 because he was “alarmed” at the differences between President Bush’s campaign promises and the policies coming out of his administration.

...

McCain’s links to Democrats were so clear that Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) — now a close ally of McCain — publicly criticized him in the early part of 2001 for keeping “unusual company.”

Jeffords pulled the trigger on May 24, 2001, throwing control of the Senate to Democrats. Chafee and McCain then broke off their discussions with Democratic leaders, according to Democrats.

TheHill.com - Democrats say McCain nearly abandoned GOP

Haha he wasn't feeling so powerful after losing to Bush and not getting his cronies in power, so he was going to abandon the Republican principles and flip control of the United States Senate to the Democrats

Man of Principle

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

.....it should be clear to anyone supporting him that he's a huge phony, and lacks the character and testicular fortitude to stand up for something he obviously believes in if it means he can't be President..

Most of his positions today are so blatantly carefully calculated to appeal to the current Republican base that I don't know how anyone can take him seriously as a candidate. If he can't do what's hard when it's not politically viable, how is he going to tackle any of the hard issues facing this country?

In other words he is no different than Hillary just as Ann Coulter has said.

If you think you score some points by trying to put me off McCain I don't get it at all. We lose no matter what.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

In other words he is no different than Hillary just as Ann Coulter has said.

If you think you score some points by trying to put me off McCain I don't get it at all. We lose no matter what.

I'm not trying to score points.. I'm just not one of the people who think McCain is some kind of special politician who has integrity and character that others don't.

[JaJae]

I really didn't want to bring Ron Paul into this thread, but it was the first thing that came to me and I think it deserves an honorable mention...

When I was reading about all the things he voted against or would vote against even after sponsoring them the first thing that popped into my head was Paul voting against his pork. To me it's similar. He brought up stuff that came to a vote and then voted against it because he disagreed with it. While it's a slightly different scenario, it's got a similar feel to it and the reason I disagree with McCain for doing this is the same reason I disagree with Paul for doing what he has done.

McCain has a history of bringing things up to vote and supporting issues only to back out on it for personal political reasons. That's all well and good I suppose if you fully support McCain as a politician in all of his dealings. I personally have a problem with it.

I think there are two ways someone can truly support a candidate. They have believe in the principles that candidate represents or they have to have faith that the person will utilize good judgment. With McCain you never know where he's going to stand on an issue. I hear people say McCain is similar to the other candidates running on issues like immigration, Iraq, etc. My responsible is simple: Which position are you referring to? There have been many. The reality is nobody really knows what he's going to do. His self-acclaimed "Maverick" title suits him well. Therefore the only other way I can see myself supporting him is if I truly felt he was a decent politician with good judgment and leadership. I simply don't see that in McCain. He strikes me as another self-serving politician who will say and do just about anything for political popularity and to attain a higher rank within our government. I don't respect that.

The only way I could vote for McCain would be if all of my options sucked and I had to pick the lesser of the evils. McCain is pretty far down on my list though...

[motivez]

I think the Ron Paul thing can be explained a little easier though, I buy into the idea that his district deserves to get a return on their money.. so long as they're paying into the system like everyone else, even if he personally disagrees with it

In McCain's case, though, it's just a lack of political courage to follow through with what he believes in because he knows it's going to be damaging to his career.. the stuff lately has most obviously been in a pathetic attempt to convince Republican voters that he's a "true conservative" and whatnot

[Rouger2]

So McCains listens to the people and changes his views big deal.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by Rouger2

So McCains listens to the people and changes his views big deal.

He tells people in private one thing, and something else to the public

Basically everytime his views change on whatever will get him the most votes