The media makeover of John McCain as some straight-talking, principled, centrist maverick willing to take on his party is a sham and a joke. He's a conservative Republican politician doing what he thinks he needs to do to get inside the White House.
Yet, many progressives readily cuddle-up to a man who "described himself as a Barry Goldwater Republican who revere[s] Ronald Reagan and his stand of limited government." So, how do McCain-lovin' progressives reconcile this man's conservative principles with our progressive values and credo which, in a nutshell, says that we believe that a strong government uses the common wealth for the common good so that each of us can pursue our own personal goals? I can't explain it.
Progressives can well to avoid the seductive allure of McCain's media persona by applying the Mexican proverb "Dime con quien andos y te digo quien eres." (Translation: "Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are.")
Consider the anti-progressive agenda of this illusionary temptress:
He voted against measures to increase the minimum wage, against a woman's right to choose, and for the Bush agenda 91 percent of the time in 2003!
He fought to deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples in his home state.
He voted against a bill declaring a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He voted to cut off federal assistance to public schools that prohibit prayer in schools.
He voted to strike provisions of the Racial Justice Act that would prohibit the death sentence in state and federal cases if a defendent could prove with statistical or other evidence that the race of the victim played a role in sentencing.
He voted against a 1996 bill to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
He voted for articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton for getting a goddamn blowjob in the White House!
He fell in line with other conservative Repiglicans to support Bush's right-wing nominees to the federal appeals court.
He supports the Bush Crime Family's illegal, murderous invasion and occupation of Iraq.
So, what I want to know is when will progressives stop pandering to an out-of-the-mainstream, anti-progressive Republican, and start promoting authentic, principled progressives?
I say this as the Hotline Oncall stie reports he will be going back to South Carolina on MLK day to give a speech there. Wonder what he'll praise the good Doctor about?
I'm trying to think of a word to describe his shify positions, but flip-flopper isn't just it. That one got old with Kerry. Hmmmmmm....
McCain was one of 90 representatives who voted against the MLK national holiday.
