I thought SW might like this. Many of these will be coming to TV
commericals soon:




The past couple of weeks have been especially difficult when it comes to
McCain flip-flops.

* McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it.

* McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three
weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.

* McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the
law; now he believes the opposite.

* McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s
against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)

Wait, I’m not done with the last two weeks yet….

* McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect
abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.

* McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the
opposite.

* He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the
Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the
worst decisions in the history of this country.”

* McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He
used to promise the opposite.

And these come after these other reversals from April and May:

* McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in
the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for
retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.

* McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in
Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.

* McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with
Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.

* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he
believes the opposite.

* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he
believes the opposite.

* He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s
policy making. Now he believes the opposite.

* McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he
doesn’t.

* He wanted political support from radical televangelists like John
Hagee and Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.

* McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global
warming. Now he doesn’t.

And these are the flip-flops I’ve noticed earlier:

* McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any
circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a
“‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to
George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two
weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in
that I will not raise taxes.”

* McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of
his foreign policy vision.

* McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s
Democratic ticket in 2004.

* In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut
underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide
resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a
$0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation
bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as
his senior campaign adviser.

* McCain has changed his economic worldview on multiple occasions.

* McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence
in Iraq on multiple occasions.

* McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former
pastor at his former church.

* McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off than they were
before Bush took office.

* McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.

* McCain believes his endorsement from radical televangelist John Hagee
was both a good and bad idea.

* McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that
homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting
“irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite
position.

* McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of
his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to
reach that goal.

* In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.

* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even
volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate
committee. Now he opposes it.

* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal
status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now
he’s against it.

* On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008
that he would vote against his own legislation.

* In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying
coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving
“feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that
he opposes his own measure.

* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We
will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along
that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”

* McCain said he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq
policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as “a mission
accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right
course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now,
we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”

* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to
saying the exact opposite.

* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay
marriage shouldn’t be allowed.

* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of
intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said
Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.

* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he
reversed course in February.

* On a related note, he said 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because
they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having
said this, and insisted he opposed the cuts because of increased
government spending.

* 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 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.

* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he
supported it.

* 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.

* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image
of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair
for his presidential campaign in New York.

Confronted with the inconsistencies in McCain’s record in March, the
senator’s aides told the New York Times that the senator “has evolved
rather than switched positions in his 25-year career.” That’s a
perfectly sensible spin — when a politician holds one position, and
then, for apparently political reasons, decides to embrace the polar
opposite position, it’s only natural for his or her aides to say the
politician’s position has “evolved.”

But in McCain’s case, the spin is wholly unfulfilling. First, McCain
sells himself as a pol who never sways with the wind, and whose
willingness to be consistent in the face of pressure is proof of his
character. Second, Republicans have spent the last four years or so
making policy reversals the single most serious political crime in
presidential politics. The dreaded “flip-flop” is, according to the GOP,
the latest cardinal sin for someone seeking national office.

And if we’re playing by Republican rules, McCain’s “evolutions” should
be a fairly serious problem. I’m beginning to think they might be.