the erosion of john mccain

In some important ways, you can understand John McCain’s presidential posturing.

It’s no secret that the Arizona Republican and Presidential candidate in 2000 is positioning himself for a run at the White House in 2008. Some days it seems every Republican from local dog catcher on up is doing the same thing.

But what John McCain, circa 2006, is not the John McCain vintage 2000. In his earlier incarnation he had a reputation for straight talk. He campaigned as a no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners former POW who had spent time in the Hanoi Hilton and had no time for the candy-assed politicians who told you whatever you wanted to hear while you signed a big check.

He refreshingly called Jerry Falwell “an agent of intolerance.” And he gained momentum.

And because he was gaining momentum, McCain was mauled in that campaign by Karl Rove, his sock puppet, George W. Bush, and the rest of the Religious Right Wing of the Republican Party.

There was the whisper campaign that he had cracked during his stay in the Hanoi Hilton, giving up information the North Vietnamese used to kill red-blooded American GIs. And there was the whisper campaign that said that McCain had cracked in the Hanoi Hilton and was dangerous in a delayed-stress, psychological kind of way. And in South Carolina there was the push poll that asked voters if it would affect their decision if they knew that McCain had fathered a black child – using photos of McCain and the Asian daughter he and his wife had adopted as “proof.”

Even John Kerry was outraged by the Rovian tactics and spoke up for McCain. And when McCain confronted Bush about it during a debate, our White House preppie shrugged his draft-dodging shoulders and shook his head. “John, John, it’s just politics,” he told him.

It’s obvious that McCain wants no part of a repeat performance in 2008. He’s consistently swallowed his pride and kissed up to Bush and Rove, showing himself to be a loyal soldier.

Even on an issue McCain has championed forever, torturing prisoners, the Arizona senator caved. He got his anti-torture amendment and stood silent while the Frat-boy in Chief announced before the ink was dry that he didn’t feel obligated to follow that particular amendment.

McCain has always opposed the Bush tax cuts, but when several of them came up for renewal, he caved again – voting to extend cuts in capital gains and dividend income rates.

Time’s Joe Klein called it.

“ “I've never voted for a tax increase, and that would have been one,” he told me last week. Oh, please. It was a vote, in essence, to restore tax rates McCain had previously favored, and he blinked. ”

And Sunday, McCain further eroded himself, saying on Meet the Press that he didn’t feel Jerry Falwell was an agent of intolerance any longer.

I never agreed with McCain on the issues and never trusted his image – he’s always voted straight neo-con. But I did respect him – both as a politician (a rarity) and as a former POW.

I guess you could say the erosion is now complete. John McCain is just another Republican looking to move up.

More soon.