The McCain Fantasy

The rebound in the McCain campaign is really best explained as a strong anti-Hillary movement, I'd say. Clinton, perhaps appropriately, is viewed by those on the right and on the left as opportunistic and slick, and as we get closer and closer to actually pulling levers, a creeping suspicion of Clintonism seems to be rising. McCain seems to represent a change for those who can't stomach Clintonism, can't support the radical religiosity of Huckabee, and can't quite get their heads around the clear insanity of Giuliani. His supporters gloss over the fact that he has been spectacularly wrong about Iraq for years, and focus instead on the notion that he is a strong and independent politician. The truth about McCain, as opposed to the hagiography that has always surrounded him, however, doesn't really stand up, though. The media has always slavishly towed the line on the 'maverick McCain' story, and never looked to the facts of the matter, which, bluntly stated, have McCain voting with the administration 90% of the time. He is a reliable Republican who talks tough but rarely challenges the status quo, which is why he is the prohibitive favorite of "the Village", the inside the beltway tribe that craves bipartisanship and moderation, and fears nothing more than outsiders who challenge their incestuous game.

David Brock breaks down the media's failure to cut thorough the Maverick story here.

McCain's reputation as a "straight talker" is linked to the perception that he is a "maverick" -- a Republican politician willing to oppose the president and the party on major issues. On the May 14 broadcast of NBC's Meet the Press, Wall Street Journal national political editor John Harwood, speaking of McCain, declared: "[W]hen you have taken on a president of your party on taxes, torture, and campaign finance reform, your street cred as a maverick is pretty solid." As Media Matters noted at the time, Harwood did not explain how, or if, his assessment of McCain's "street cred as a maverick" was affected by McCain's February vote to extend Bush's 2003 tax cuts on dividends and capital gains, which McCain had long opposed, saying they exacerbated the budget deficit. Even the conservative editorial board of Harwood's own paper saw it as a politically expedient flip-flop. Harwood also ignored the fact that, after an initial rebuke, McCain has been silent on Bush's unprecedented issuance of "signing statements" declaring his authority to bypass laws passed by Congress -- including the anti-torture amendment McCain added to a defense authorization bill.

There is plenty more.

McCain has used this all to his advantage, of course. He has been reliably pro-war, supporting the President's folly more wholeheartedly than any other candidate, but has cherry picked the execution of that war as a hammer with which to beat the administration when the time was right. He has come out strongly against the use of torture by the administration, but refuses to challenge Bush's clear refusal to follow the laws opposing torture. He and Lieberman have feinted at talking tough, but have done more to undermine an honest assessment of our Iraqi fiasco, which has needlessly squandered treasure and lives and in no way advanced the security or stature of our nation.

Think Progress has more:

McCain appropriately criticizes the administration for painting an unrealistic picture of the situation in Iraq, but he conveniently neglects to mention his own rosy assessments as he was cheerleading the nation to war. While McCain hopes the public will see this as another example of his “straight talk,” here are some quotes that McCain wants you to forget:

Hardball, 3/12/03:

MATTHEWS: Are you one of those who holds up an optimistic view of the post-war scene? Do you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?

MCCAIN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

MATTHEWS: And you think the Arab world will come to a grudging recognition that what we did was necessary? I mean by that the modern Arab leaders, the people that we have to deal with.

MCCAIN: Not only that, they’ll be relieved that he’s not in the neighborhood because he has invaded his neighbors on several occasions.

Hardball, 3/24/03:

MATTHEWS: Do you think it’s working? Do you think we’ll shake them — shake them to the roots so they will give up eventually and avoid a huge bloodbath of people?

MCCAIN: I don’t know how long they’ll hang out. It doesn’t take a large number of people to cause difficulties in house to house fighting we’ve just seen that in southern Iraq. But there’s no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there’s no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators. These guys are the real bad guys and they’re telling everybody, we’re going to shoot you and so, of course, we’re not being welcomed cause they’ve got people that will kill them if they do. Once that’s done, I’m confident.

McCain represents the status quo, not some sort of independent outsider. That much should be clear. If you want to sustain the legacy of the past eight years, he's your man. If you are a Republican interested in change, I'd suggest Rudy or Huck, two true mavericks.

UPDATE: Oh, and by the way, the legend that McCain is a strong opponent of K Street money and a man willing to turn his back on the deep pocketed strong arms of the Republican machine? That's all a crock too.