The Problem of John McCain

John McCain is an able politician who still gets high marks in personal approval ratings from voters who are likely to not be paying so much attention. The mainstream media is literally his core constituency, so you won't see any criticism of him played out there.

This is despite the fact that he's a true flip-flopper who will say anything to remain popular. Before it was in his interests to be a maverick independent. With a Republican primary next on his agenda, it is now far more important to let show masks his true colors as a far-right conservative who believes in more war.

* 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.

Behind the scenes, McCain supported Trent Lott's candidacy for Minority Whip, which prevailed by one vote. He is ignorant about basic facts about the military like their "don't ask, don't tell" policy, but nevertheless believes himself to be an expert on said military. He wants to send more troops to Iraq (and literally reads his talking points off the script when calling for it), yet seems to know that the tactic won't work:

I talked with John McCain Sunday morning in the green room just before “This Week.” I asked him why he continued to call for more troops for Iraq when he must know it's a political non-starter. He said he thought it important for the morale of the troops.

McCain gives every impression of meaning what he says, which is one of his greatest assets. But I simply can’t believe this one. What’s most important for the morale of the troops is knowing they’ll be coming home soon, not hearing some politician say we need more troops when there’s no possible chance of that happening [...]

I think McCain knows Iraq is out of our hands – it’s disintegrating into civil war, and by 2008 will be a bloodbath. He also knows American troops will be withdrawn. The most important political fact he knows is he has to keep a big distance between himself and Bush in order to avoid being tainted by this horrifying failure. Arguing that we need more troops effectively covers his ass. It will allow him to say, “if the President did what I urged him to do, none of this would have happened.”

In the end, McCain alone will be able to escape blame. At least, that’s what I think he’s thinking.

(At least that seems to be his plan, although Bush and the ISG may call his bluff and put in more troops themselves, only to have that fail, leaving McCain FULLY responsible for the growing disaster. We'll have to see about that one.)

In other words, there's plenty of ammunition to use in the event of a John McCain candidacy in 2008. But for some reason, Democrats have refused to open fire, and I'm as worried as Matt Stoller that they'll pull a Schwarzenegger and wait entirely too long to take him down a peg:

No matter how many times Atrios shows that this is Saint McCain's war, or Thinkprogress shows McCain lying or changing his various positions, or the Senate Majority Project goes after him, the internet left just doesn't have the reach to make it stick. What we need are 'the adults' in the liberal establishment to consistently attack McCain and lay down the corrupt and untrustworthy narrative. This is one of the reasons I don't trust Obama, because he acted like a dependent battered partner and apologized to McCain after McCain viciously attacked him for no particular reason. I see weakness there and moral hollowness, papered over by charisma, brilliance, and ambition. I've also never heard Edwards criticize McCain, and Hillary Clinton allowed a surrogate to go after McCain in the clumsiest manner possible before retracting her criticisms.

But more than that, beating McCain is going to require a repudiation of the 'adult' moniker that Democrats just love. Whether it was the Graham-McCain-Warner 'compromise' on torture, which we saw from a mile away, or the Baker commission, or the new Defense Secretary, or Condi's lies about 9/11, it's time to realize that the Republicanish 'adults' are not in fact mature but are simply crazy and sleazy [...]

The flip side of McCain the media darling and his 'Straight Talk Express' is a very simple 'McCain the pandering corrupt politician'. It's a perfect narrative, replete with Keating 5 and pro-war sentiments that have already been effectively laid down. We have a head start on McCain which we did not on Lieberman. Still, Democrats ought to go after McCain on this starting right now. They ought to immediately stop caring what the Baker Commission says. Democrats won this election, not the partisan Bush-crony James Baker. That should be obvious. And yet somehow it's not.

McCain was convenient for Democrats when he differed from the Republican party line. He was someone they could point to and say "Even John McCain disagrees..." But that time has passed. Democrats are in charge of the legislative agenda and Bush is no longer in total control. It's time to play offense and look forward to 2008. It's no longer necessary or palatable to give John McCain credibility with these statements. It's time to stand up to him and make him pay for his pandering and doubletalk. As Stoller said, the blogs cannot do this alone. Party leaders have to start calling McCain on his endless bullshit. They neglect to do so at their peril.

UPDATE: Refreshingly, the LA Times' Matt Welch becomes one of the few media members to judge McCain on reality rather than reputation:

McCain, it turns out, wants to restore your faith in the U.S. government by any means necessary, even if that requires thousands of more military deaths, national service for civilians and federal micromanaging of innumerable private transactions. He'll kick down the doors of boardroom and bedroom, mixing Democrats' nanny-state regulations with the GOP's red-meat paternalism in a dangerous brew of government activism.

....If his issues line up with yours, and if you're not overly concerned by an activist federal government, McCain can be a great and sympathetic ally. But chances are he will eventually see a grave national threat in what you consider harmless, or he'll prescribe a remedy that you consider unconscionable. Nowhere is that more evident than in his ideas about the Iraq war.

Kevin Drum rightly notes that "If you think Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer would make good foreign policy advisors, then McCain is your man. However, if you're not insane, that prospect will scare the hell out of you. As it should." In fact, Kristol was one of McCain's top supporters on TV in 2000. Maybe a few of the commentariat will dip their toe in the water and criticize McCain. I don't expect all of them to do so, but the Democrats need to seek out those who will and follow their lead.

UPDATE: Quick Overview has more.