McCain’s flourishing flip-flop list
Update: This post has been updated and expanded.
Just to follow-up briefly on Michael’s guest-post from yesterday, Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) new-found opposition to Roe v. Wade is rather remarkable, even for him.
In 1999, McCain was in New Hampshire, campaigning for the GOP nomination as a moderate. He proclaimed himself a pro-life candidate, but told reporters that “in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade.” He explained that overturning Roe would force “women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” Yesterday, campaigning for the GOP nomination as a conservative, McCain said the opposite.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask one question about abortion. Then I want to turn to Iraq. You’re for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, with some exceptions for life and rape and incest.
MCCAIN: Rape, incest and the life of the mother. Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So is President Bush, yet that hasn’t advanced in the six years he’s been in office. What are you going to do to advance a constitutional amendment that President Bush hasn’t done?
MCCAIN: I don’t think a constitutional amendment is probably going to take place, but I do believe that it’s very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should — could overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the states, which I support…. Just as I believe that the issue of gay marriage should be decided by the states, so do I believe that we would be better off by having Roe v. Wade return to the states.
The old McCain didn’t want an amendment and didn’t want Roe overturned. The new McCain completely disagrees with the old McCain.
It’s worth noting that politicians’ opinions on abortion can, and often do, “evolve” over time. Dick Gephardt and Al Gore, for example, both opposed abortion rights before eventually becoming pro-choice. With this in mind, McCain’s unexpected shift may simply reflect yet another pol whose thinking has changed over time.
Or, far more likely, McCain is once again abandoning any pretense of consistency and integrity, and is now willing to say literally anything to win.
Let’s return, once again, to McCain’s flourishing flip-flop list, which is now a Top 11 list.
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell’s debate coach.)
* 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 gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.
* 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.
* And now he’s both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade.
It’s not exactly a newsflash that McCain is veering ridiculously to the right in a rather shameless attempt to reinvent himself, but Dems should take advantage of the situation and help establish the narrative now. Despite his rather embarrassing record of late, we still have major media figures telling the public that “no one would accuse McCain of equivocating on anything.”
Now is the time to begin characterizing McCain — accurately — as a man with no principle beliefs. Dems should not only criticize McCain’s constantly evolving opinions on nearly everything, they should openly mock him for it now, so that the storyline becomes second nature (like the GOP did with “serial exaggerator” Al Gore).
The nation is seeing McCain 2.0, and we like the old one better.
If I ever wake up on a Sunday morning, turn on the TV, and not see John McCain, then I shall safely declare half the battle won.
100% correct. Maybe Carville can use his big fat pie hole to do some good instead of harming the Dems. Others as well need to speak up and work something in every time they are on the teevee. Begalia, the idiot who led Gore’s mucked-up 2000 campaign (I think I have erased her name from my memory), and Schecter (who has been spot on recently). Say things like “McCain flips more than the pancakes at IHOP (or hashbrowns at Waffle House, or one of the notorious crashers in NASCAR, or all of the above)” and spit out 3 or 4 different issues each time.
Add another filp flop, aweek or so ago McCain was for sending 20000 more troops to Iraq as a final push to suceed and now he states just the opposite. It is not just saying anything to appeal to voters it appears that he is at best confused and at the worst displaying mental unfitness.
I really find myself increasingly offended when any male politician discusses abortion without addressing health issues that affect the mother. There ARE valid health-related reasons and anyone who calls for prohibitions on abortion that do not address these issues needs to be called on it.
What is with these ex-military men turned politicians? Is it congenital for them to flip-flop?
And didn’t McCain take questionable campaign contributions from banking crook Charles Keating, and then he “flipped” to vigorously support campaign finance reform. Grover Norquist is against limits on campaign contributions; where does Mr. “Straight-Talk-Express” stand now?
I liked McCain (or at least what I saw of him during the run up to the 2000 election.) He wasn’t the typical Repub oaf and had some of the uncommon common sense.
Now? Not so much.
Did the 80’s John borrow Marty McFly’s Delorean and move forward some 20 years? The reason I ask is that this John McCain reminds me of the guy who got burned by defending noted scumbag/cheat/liar/hypocrit Charles Keating as a member of the Keating Five.
If the time machine explanation isn’t there then there is only conclusion that comes out of this.
The only principle John McCain has is whatever’s good for John McCain.
Perhaps Karl Rove did America a favor when they questioned his fitness to lead (I sure am these days.)
Aren’t #4 and #7 the same thing (backing off of McCain-Feingold)? It sounds better as a Top 10 list anyway.
I really find myself increasingly offended when any male politician discusses abortion without addressing health issues that affect the mother.
Agreed, although I’d take it a bit further and want to hear (from any “pro-lifer” regardless of gender) what steps they have taken to ensure not just the safety of the fetus but the health and quality of life when it stops being an abstract notion and starts crying: Have they advocated for more public funding for childrens’ health care progams? What about health insurance for all - a sick parent can’t care for their child. What about training/education programs for parents so they can get a better job and put food on the table? Stricter child support enforcement laws? The list is endless and of course no one ever has much to say about all of that stuff. Just express opposition to R v W, mouth a few platitudes about how precious life is and away they go.
McCain is proof that selling your soul to the devil is not a one-time transaction but a lengthy, on-going negotiation to pawn away things you have for the object of greatest desire. He wants to power of the presidency so bad you can see him mortgaging away everything he has to get it. This nation should be very distrustful of such a man.
McCain only sounds halfway sane when he’s compared to the lunatics he stands next to on the Republican side, and that relative differential is the only thing the average American can perceive. But Mr “straight talk” has so many things about him that the wingnuts will hate, it’s hard to picture them getting behind him 100%, and unless the Dems run someone like Hillary, the center will not swing to the Republicans. Two years from now they will still remember that it was a Republican who started the Iraq war, and all the investigations in the meantime will show how he did it, and how the Republican party used the war as a political weapon.
But hear me now and believe me later, if Pelosi succeeds in promoting corrupt-looking people like Alcee Hastings, we will lose in 2008, maybe to John “flip-flop” McCain.
He has a principle belief alright…that he should do anything and everything he can to get elected. I agree 100 % with petorado’s post. He’d probably be willing to sell his kids at this point.
I don’t really anticipate to many conservatives challenging McCain’s “flip-flop” on abortion; rather they will characterize it as he has “seen the light.”
I am surprise that this article in the NYTimes last Friday didn’t get more attention. It concerns the lesson which McCain learned from the GOP’s mid-term defeat. Here is the lede.
You know it doesn’t get more ironic than that. Here are some choice quotes
Terrific post!! I am getting weary of McCain constantly re-positioning himself to appeal to the conservative Republican base, and getting tired of him trying to sound like a military expert where Iraq is concerned. He is in lock-step with the administration no matter how hard he tries to paint himself as an independent thinker. Not to mention his support of the Military Commissions Act; the man (and I credit him for his service to our nation in Vietnam) is a traitor to the Constitution and has no business occupying the White House.
This is a conspiricy by Rove and the elite Repubs (read wealthy) to help McCain shot himself in he foot. He is not reaching out to them 1st - but they to him. Trust me, this is meant for Jeb Bush or some other chosen son of the ruling class to make sure that McCain will not be a hinderence in ‘08. If I’m right then CNN, MSNBC, ABC, Faux etal will be reporting these ‘changes in position’ just like this post does - if I’m wrong you’ll see the MSM bury or spin these flip-flops.
Right now he’s being given enough rope to hang himself. He is such a willing idiot though, isn’t he.
Rudy will be an easy take down too. Newt, no problem. That leaves who for the power hungry goopers to turn to …. Reasonable, good looking, evironmentally friendly, Teri Schiavo purified, tax cut proven, spanish speaking (hispanic freindly), good old boy safe, one of Mel Martines’ BFFs, not stupid (like you know who), brother JEB.
This has Carl Rove/Barbara Bush written all over it.
I could be wrong, we’ll see.
ur wrong.
two articles worth reading
p://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/barack_obama_and_israel.html
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/27/the_dominant_clinton?p1=email_to_a_friend
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock,
I’m a little McCain FlipFlop,
First I’m here, and next I’m there,
Don’t be confused by my vote getting cares.
On lobby money I have taken my share,
Keating 5 was my first foray there,
Then when outted I changed my stance,
Now I stand firmly against campaign finance.
Next on votes I may stand here or there,
I have a record of voting with Democrats cares,
In fact you find that I’m quite a rouge,
You never know where I’ll be when the wind blows.
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock,
I’m a little McCain FlipFlop,
First I’m here, and next I’m there,
Don’t be confused by my smoke screen smears.
And should we disagree, I’ll dig my feet in and put up a fuss,
I am an angry man with Machiavellian gloves,
I hit my opponents from the front, then slice them from the rear,
All the time saying, My Friend, its just politics, not to fear.
On the Bush Tax Cuts I was against them for years,
Only 2 republicans voted against them to be clear,
But now I need votes and I see the error of my ways,
I am for the Tax Cuts as long as it pays.
On immigration I stood firmly with the left,
Free pass to immigration for tax paying illegals seemed to me best,
But now that Republican votes are my aim,
I can see more clearly the politics of border control game.
It may not appear that I have changed my position to support the wall,
As long as a vote never occurs for my senate immigration proposal.
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock,
I’m a little McCain FlipFlop,
First I’m here, and next I’m there,
So don’t be disappointed when you find me courting democrat cares.
Expect to see either ticket
McCain/Leiberman
or
MccCain/Bush (Jeb)
We are being set up again! Beware! McCain has sold his soul. Do not fall for this once again. Rove resigned his position because he’s been working behind the scenes to get this idiot in office. Another puppet just like Georgie Porgie.
This should be McCain’s slogan:
MCCAIN, MCCAIN…MORE OF THE SAME!!
You’d think that the country would have had enough of George W. Bush. But it looks like the Republicans are going to shoot themselves in the foot again! Better get all of your money out of the banks and hide it under your mattress!
With all his flips-flops, McCain probably just figures…
“If you can’t beat em, join em.”
He probably finally realized the truth: Honest, forthright people who stick to their convictions do not get elected President.
McCain / Rice - that’s why Rice is in Africa with Bush.
And that’s how they will snag both the african american and female vote.
eeeek…scary thought….
what’d he say, he wouldn’t mind 10,000 more years in Iraq !?!
This is terrible, Viet Nam Vets against Sen. McCane. What the hell is this all about? Are we playing politics here…I’m appalled and take offense to this bs web site as I’m a D.A.V., Nam 1969-1970. McCane was A COMBAT FIGHTER PIOLT THAT WA SHOT DOWN AND LANDED RIGHT IN THE HANIO RIVER. He was POW for years.
Forget politics and give due to a great American as McCane was, and continues to be.
Sure, he is a great American. He served with honor and should be commended for it. No one in their right minds would fault McCain for anything about ‘Nam. Just like YOUR people would never disparage Mr. Kerry. Right!? Does “Swift Boats for Truth” ring a bell, mister!? - Honestly. I guess Kerry’s problem was that he wasn’t an aviator and was not shot down. What’s with you people anyway? Instead, Kerry was shot at numerous times on a paper thin tim metal boat on the most dangerous river in the world at that time! , but later had the BALLS to actually petition the congress and the public to hopefully bring an end to that war. Probably saving hundreds more lives! — And history, (well; the one that you guys fail to believe) proves that Kerry was spot on in his criticisms of the way the war was headed. Thank you McCain for your service. Now; the rest of the issues we’ll attack you on. And frankly, you deserve it.
I am a 50 year old women. I hope I am getting wiser as I see more, read more, and research more as the years pass by. The same can be said for me as you are trying to say about Sen. McCain -I am a FLIP FLOPPER AND PROUD OF IT. When any one does the research on Sen. McCain,they can tell we are looking at a lot of years not just one month or two weeks.
A proud flip-flopper’s change on some issues:I.E.
I use to believe in “women’s lib”. I then notice the effect on our nation. Women’s lib was good at first but then it went to far.
1.When I was in my early twenty’s -I used to think that a career for all women was out of the house, in a nice office and driving a nice car and I had all that. When I was in my early thirty’s -I gave it all up to stay at home and raise my own children. I came to the conclusion that mothers need to go back to raising their children and fathers need to make enough to support their families.
2.I use to believe that I was a strict democrat. That was when I thought that the democratic party was the only one that cared for the hard working class and family life. As I got wiser I now could be called an independent. I vote for the best person for the job now not the best democrat for the job.
The list could go on and on just like Sen. McCain’s list does. You do not have a bone here to chew on Sen. Obama!