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John and Jerry, sitting in a tree,
k-i-s-s-i-n-g
Here's the Senator on Meet the Press:
RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?
McCAIN: No, I don’t. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain how his views on this program when you have him on.
Well, there you have it. If you were still thinking of McCain as the "maverick" senator who out-toughed the Vietcong during years of imprisonment during the Vietnam War, you now know just how tough he is--a whole lot less than evangelist Jerry Falwell. He'll be giving the graduation address at Falwell's college; he's giving the righty reverend a wet kiss in advance.
McCain, like Giuliani, is going around the country, sucking up to the evangelical right. The church crowd likes the attention. It doesn't seem to mind that Guiliani's on marriage #3 and that he had hot-and-cold running girlfriends during his tenure as New York's least loved mayor in decades--he became The Man on 9/11. And that's that--for a lot of these folks, if a zealot picks up a bullhorn, they're in love.
McCain, for his part, gets lots of mileage as a man of principle. But when you look at his voting record, he find what the principle is--he's one of the most conservative senators. Consistently. Look at his voting record (scroll down to 'Conservastive'):
Fall 2004: Senator McCain supported the interests of the John Birch Society 90 percent in Fall 2004.
2005: Senator McCain supported the interests of the Republican Liberty Caucus on personal liberties 84 percent in 2005.
2004: Senator McCain supported the interests of the Christian Coalition 83 percent in 2004.
McCain likes to go on talk shows and play the thoughtful moderate, and the moderators are such wimps they let him get away with it. But he's a hard-liner. Abortion only if you're raped. Win in Iraq. Simple positions, easily digested by the red meat crowd.
McCain will move even further to the right as time goes on--unless, I would imagine, he suddenly wakes up and realizes that positioning yourself as a logical successor to George Bush is a loser of an idea. In which case, he'll will move toward the center. But only the center of the far right. It wouldn't do, after all, to speak for most of the citizenry when you're the willing pawn of the church-and-flag crowd.
RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?
McCAIN: No, I don’t. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain how his views on this program when you have him on.
Well, there you have it. If you were still thinking of McCain as the "maverick" senator who out-toughed the Vietcong during years of imprisonment during the Vietnam War, you now know just how tough he is--a whole lot less than evangelist Jerry Falwell. He'll be giving the graduation address at Falwell's college; he's giving the righty reverend a wet kiss in advance.
McCain, like Giuliani, is going around the country, sucking up to the evangelical right. The church crowd likes the attention. It doesn't seem to mind that Guiliani's on marriage #3 and that he had hot-and-cold running girlfriends during his tenure as New York's least loved mayor in decades--he became The Man on 9/11. And that's that--for a lot of these folks, if a zealot picks up a bullhorn, they're in love.
McCain, for his part, gets lots of mileage as a man of principle. But when you look at his voting record, he find what the principle is--he's one of the most conservative senators. Consistently. Look at his voting record (scroll down to 'Conservastive'):
Fall 2004: Senator McCain supported the interests of the John Birch Society 90 percent in Fall 2004.
2005: Senator McCain supported the interests of the Republican Liberty Caucus on personal liberties 84 percent in 2005.
2004: Senator McCain supported the interests of the Christian Coalition 83 percent in 2004.
McCain likes to go on talk shows and play the thoughtful moderate, and the moderators are such wimps they let him get away with it. But he's a hard-liner. Abortion only if you're raped. Win in Iraq. Simple positions, easily digested by the red meat crowd.
McCain will move even further to the right as time goes on--unless, I would imagine, he suddenly wakes up and realizes that positioning yourself as a logical successor to George Bush is a loser of an idea. In which case, he'll will move toward the center. But only the center of the far right. It wouldn't do, after all, to speak for most of the citizenry when you're the willing pawn of the church-and-flag crowd.
