http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/34401/
I agree with the opening salvo of the article: he’s doing it to become palatable to the religious right in order to succeed in the 'Pubbie primaries.
And I doubt it signals any shift in perspective on his part (although it indicates a troubling willingness to be politically pragmatic at the expense of being on the right side of things. Umm, that was a lower-case r).
Question: is this poisonous to his candidacy? Is a sufficiently large subset of potential McCain supporters composed of libertarian-right conservatives who want the Bible-thumpers the hell out of their politics (esp. after GWB) + folks who perceive McCain as the brave maverick give-'em-hell non-political politician who shoots straight from the hip and doesn’t tailor his statements and positions for their voter-appeal (unlike the Hillary of course)? And, if so, will they now turn away from him in disgust?
I think so, myself. At least if he keeps it up. (And if he doesn’t keep it up, it will bear insufficient fruit with the religious right).
I dunno, perhaps you overreact a bit. AFAICT, most of your linked cite was the following:
Now, I agree with you that it is pure political suckup to refuse to finger Jerry Falwell as an “agent of intolerance”, which he certainly is. However, as you note, no serious politician is a stranger to this kind of suckup (well, maybe a few).
The general “big tent” blather is also pretty par for the course, and reasonable on its face. I don’t like the Christian Right myself, but if Republicans in general don’t want them to be a part of the Republican Party, they’ll have to say so, not just sit around waiting for major Republican candidates to commit political suicide by trying to shoo them out. In the meantime, they do have a right to be part of the GOP, and thank Og they’re over there instead of over here, sez I.
So I don’t see this as being particularly “poisonous” to the McCain candidacy in any way. But then, I was never that enthused by the guy, and I never thought much of his supposed ruthless-honesty, straight-talking persona. Nobody who saw how he eventually cozied back up to Bush after the nasty business of the 2000 Republican primaries could really be surprised that he’s willing to make nice with someone like Falwell.
You’re right, something was missing. McCain called Falwell (along with Farakan and a few others) “agents of intellerance” in 2000. His point was to link the whackos of all denominations as being, well, whackos. Tim Russert was just calling him on that since McCain is scheduled to speak (give commencement address?) at Falwell’s Liberty University.
As for the OP, this just confirms what many of have been saying all along-- McCain is a politician like most of the others. He isn’t the saint (pardon the pun) that so many people try to paint him as being. And, he’s pretty darned conservative. It’s smart of him, politically, at least to acknowledge the relligious right, because they are too many of them to just push them out of politics altogether. The key for McCain is to stay true to his conservative vlaues and show where they overlap with the Religious right, but not to get sucked into the divisive, intolerant politics that group often plays.
The media loves McCain, and that’s his biggest risk in getting too cozy with the RR. If he starts talking about how Christians are victims in this country, the media’s love affair with him is going to turn into Fatal Attraction.
One thing McCain has going for him is that he really is a uniter, unlike Bush. He has proven again and again that he can work with the Democrats to get legislation pushed thru. That’s no small potatoes (the plural of potatoe ).
Gee Mr. Hunter, you mean Senator McCain is a politician?
I never would have guessed that.
I still think he is a cut above the average politician and a very acceptable candidate. I hope he gets the Nomination and the Democrats find a really good and fairly honorable Candidate also. The last election was one of the worst cases of picking the lesser of two evils I have ever seen.
McCain vs. Fill in the Blank will be a large improvement. If McCain really has Rudy G on the ticket, all the better. He is almost as liberal as an electable Republican can get.
I dunno. As long as he keeps his rhetoric a bit toned down, he could probably get an honorary degree from Bob Jones U. and still keep his more liberal supporters on board. They don’t seem to care about his voting record.
Here’s a thread I started in puzzlement over what I can only assume is a pheremonal thing:
Any libertarian conservative who supports McCain should have his/her head examined. The guy opposes tax cuts, supports gun control, is in favor of crippling our economy in the name of fighting global warming, championed a government takeover of the cigarette industry, and was the sponsor of the most egregious anti-free speech bill in recent years.
Right anyone on either extreme of the Parties should hate him. That is why he does appeal to Moderates. Most of the so called Liberals that like him are really Moderate leaning Democrats and not John Kerry Liberals.
I guess this is a reference to something I have found very impressive - his ability to lead bipartisan efforts at campaign finance reform.
It is typical of politicians of Right and Left to see a need to shore up their credibility with the more extreme elements of their parties in the advance stages of Presidential campaigns and looking toward primaries - and then to swing back towards the middle, hoping that gullible voters won’t notice.
McCain has been doing this for some time - emphasizing elements dear to the heart of the religious Right, such as voicing his support for teaching “intelligent design” in public schools, backing the extreme South Dakota anti-abortion legislation, and now sucking up to Falwell.
Maybe you could view this from the other direction, seeing McCain as a guy who’s always been pretty right-wing and who voiced contrarian/reform views in an effort to attract moderates and only now is returning to his roots.
It doesn’t matter much to me. I see someone who could well have attracted my vote in 2008, but now increasingly creates fears that he’s just another hack swaying in the breeze. Bob Dole also had a reputation as an independent-minded non-extreme Republican before his unsuccessful run at the Presidency. Then he began caving to the Right, doing things like making nice with Oliver North, whom he had previously attacked as unworthy of office.
“Relax, he’s just playing the game” does not suffice, if you want my vote. If I can’t tell what you really stand for (if anything), you lose my support.
Really, do you base this on voting records or some other determination?
Or are the only true Liberals like FeinGold? (Who unlike Kerry I at least respect)
The fact of the matter is you’re unlikely to have a choice of anyone who doesn’t “play the game” in the general election, assuming we’re talking about the two main parties. The primaries, mabey, but not the general.
Does anyone else think that McCain would win a lot more votes if he were to clearly state that the good Reverend Falwell was completely out of his fucking mind? Or are there so many Kool-Aid drinkers in the Republican Party that this statement would result in political suicide?
That was kind of my take on it, Frostillicus — that the type of Republican who really like the Jerry Falwells is only going to support McCain if no more Falwellesque Republican enters the primaries (or runs on a 3rd party ticket for that matter). And that meanwhile his best hope for picking up huge chunks of the middle (including nominally Democratic voters who are attracted to McCain for reasons other than his political positions) is to hold that fundie shit in tongs at arm’s length with his nose pinched.
I think this just lost him lots of votes in the middleground. And even lots of votes from conservatives of a decidedly secular sort. And it smells so strongly of pandering, rather than his own convictions, that I think it will be sniffed with suspicion by the fundamentalist vote (those folks aren’t oblivious to the probability that this is the same old ‘run right in the primary and veer left in the general then do what you want when you’re in office’)
Did anybody see his Daily Show appearance the other night when Stewart asked him about this (the only reason he was on the show, in fact)? McCain essentailly said that he makes dozens of speeches at colleges each year, this one is no different (I presume it’s a paying gig) and that he has disagreements with Falwell but thinks he’s a good man.
Probably true, and a significant reason why I voted for third-party candidates in two of the last three presidential elections. I no longer feel the obligation to hold my nose and vote for the slightly less objectionable major party candidate (2004 being an exception).
While a variety of Democratic meltdowns (and security concerns) have helped the G.O.P. overcome this to a large extent, the fact remains that registered Democrats significantly outnumber registered Republicans, meaning that Republicans should always be concerned with appealing to independents, many of whom are turned off by radical excess. It’s discouraging to see a candidate like McCain who’s had such potential to attract independents (and crossover Democrats) throwing his advantages away in order to secure his “base”.
The old saw was that he was unlikely to be nominated but a good shot to be elected*. It appears that he’s out to reverse that.
*the corollary being that Hillary Clinton allegedly has a great chance to be nominated but a much poorer outlook for winning in the general election.
That’s a weak excuse. And when you’re Mr. Straight Talking Maverick Guy, it’s even less acceptable than usual. In my view, McCain has proven repeatedly in the last few years that he’s a maverick until it suits him not to be one. I’ve seen very little of his much-talked about principles and freethinking since 2004. What I have seen is McCain going on The Daily Show and saying Bush spends money like a drunken sailor, then hugging Bush on the campaign trail. He’ll offer token criticisms of Rumsfeld’s screwups, but go on about how right the war was (that’ll really appeal to moderates). Now we’re seeing him give an endorsement to the ideas of a man he called an agent of intolerance a few years ago. If Falwell and Farrakhan were both agents of intolerance, do you think he’d speak at an event endorsed by Farrakhan? Endorsing intelligent design is nothing but a sop to the religious right. He’s hoping his ‘maverick’ epithet stops people from paying attention to his deeds. If he wants to be a politician, fine. I don’t care; there are plenty of politicians in politics. When you claiming to follow your conscience and holding yourself to a higher standard, you surrender that excuse.
John McCain is more conservative than I am, and he never would have had my vote. But a couple of years ago he did have my respect. I don’t know how anybody on the left likes him at this point. I get the sense they’re paying attention to his rep and not what he’s saying or doing. If he does this for two more years, and the primaries are a long way away, he’s going to lose that moderate and liberal vote anyway.
