As Matt, the Associated Press and others have noted, John McCain has been spending quite a bit of time sidling up to ultra-religious regressives like Jerry Falwell in an effort to improve his chances at securing the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. As Jonathan Allen reported for The Hill on Thursday, this is only the beginning of a larger "Southern strategy" for the conservative Arizona Senator.

McCain, who is scheduled to headline a Lincoln Day dinner in Polk County, Fla., on April 8, has visited several Southern states in recent weeks and has been cultivating Southern political leaders.

[...]

"I think to any presidential candidate, the South is important," said McCain, who despite pointing out that he has visited other regions of the country noted the prominence of the South Carolina and Alabama primaries.

"He's fully aware that he has to carry some of the South to win the nomination," said one Southern lawmaker who is considering backing McCain.

There's nothing inherently wrong about a Republican -- or a Democrat, for that matter -- focusing on the South as a means for garnering his party's presidential nomination. That said, for John McCain to so openly court those who just a few years ago threw racial smears at him and who McCain himself decried at the same time is an example of cynicism at its worst.

John McCain built up quite a bit of support among independents and even Democrats by showing a willingness to eschew the party line at times, but those days are long gone. McCain the maverick no longer exists; in his place stands John McCain, the quintessential cynical politician who will do anything to win an election. Remember, this is a guy who was implicated in the Keating Five scandal towards the beginning of his tenure in the Senate.

So whenever the media pumps out another McCain puff piece, as they surely will do in the coming months and years, we must push back by reminding the reporter -- and the reader -- that McCain is no moderate seeking to fix the problems in Washington but rather a central part of the problem because of his cynical view of politics and the American voter.