Published on Saturday, April 8, 2006 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington)
by Helen Thomas
WASHINGTON - In his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain is moving to the right.
The Arizona Republican, who failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, is the most visible Republican on television, outside the White House, and seems to never pass up an opportunity to appear on Sunday talk shows.
All this appears to be part of his effort to transform his image as a maverick independent so that he can make his pitch to the conservative Republican base that will vote in the party's primaries and caucuses two years hence.
McCain's focus is on Southern states where he will have to show his dedication to the conservatives who dominate the GOP. He was scheduled to be the main speaker at the Lincoln Day dinner in Lakeland, Fla., on Saturday. Later this spring, he will deliver the commencement address at Liberty University at Lynchburg, Va., the school founded by evangelical leader Jerry Falwell.
Falwell has indicated there are still some bridges to mend with McCain, who had called Falwell "an agent of intolerance" in his first bid for the presidency in 2000.
Although Falwell has not endorsed McCain, he has said that the senator "could be the GOP's best hope" if Sen. Hillary Clinton is nominated to head the Democratic ticket in 2008.
Falwell also says McCain is in the process of "healing the breach with evangelical groups."
Asked to explain his change of attitude toward the evangelist on "Meet the Press" Sunday, McCain said: "I believe that the Christian right has a major role to play in the Republican Party. One reason (that) is so is because they're so active and their followers are. And I believe they have a right to be part of our party."
McCain also has gone out of his way to cozy up to President Bush after their bitter rift in the 2000 presidential campaign. McCain has said he does not look back in anger at old political battles. That's wise -- he's going to need Bush's backing in a presidential bid.
McCain also has taken other stands that should put him in good with Southern conservatives. Hailing from a military family -- his father and grandfather were admirals in the Navy -- he is a strong supporter of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and believes the number of U.S. troops there should be beefed up.
He is against abortion rights and gun-control laws and believes students should be taught the religion-oriented "intelligent design" theory of creation as well as the theory of scientific evolution.
His painful experience as a POW during the Vietnam War led him to buck the White House on the question of using torture to interrogate detainees and prisoners of war. Despite White House opposition, he triumphed with a 90-9 Senate vote on his anti-torture amendment to the defense appropriations bill.
Well, almost.
In signing the bill, the president issued a statement that under his constitutional authority as commander in chief, he did not have to abide by the anti-torture amendment. This is a dubious claim of presidential power that should be challenged.
McCain's political record is not entirely pristine. He was a member of the so-called Keating Five -- five senators linked to Charles Keating in the savings and loan scandals in 1991. But a special investigator found that McCain had not been substantially involved in influence peddling but criticized him and three others for "questionable conduct."
That searing experience may explain why McCain has been an avid advocate of campaign finance reform.
With his "hail fellow well met" persona and tendency to jaw with the media and pundits in the back of the campaign bus, he has created the impression in some quarters that he is a "moderate."
Forget it. His voting record speaks for itself.
McCain is working hard to prove his staunch conservative credentials as he woos the far right in his party.
If he wins the presidency, the country can expect a continuation of Bush's aggressive foreign policy and ultra-right domestic programs.
Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers.
Contributors
Links
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2006
(1766)
-
▼
April
(137)
- The Rehabilitation of the Cold-War Liberal - New Y...
- The Criminal In Chief
- Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondent...
- War Costs Skyrocket
- Republicans Involved In Lobbyist Sex Scandal
- Chicken Hawks Come Home To Roost
- He Wasn't A Bush Appointee, Was He? I Can't Belie...
- Next they'll want us to eat chips and salsa....
- Time To Smell The Coffee
- Fueling their Anxiety
- A Gouging Market
- The power to do nothing about fuel economy
- Web sites I like
- There Is A God!
- "My job is to make decisions"
- The Rape of the Working Class
- For Rove, a time to panic?
- Bush does something right
- Fw: BREAKING: Iraq Debate Announced
- David Brock on New White House press secretary Ton...
- Bin Laden/China
- The Passion of George W. Bush
- A Prius in Every Pot - New York TimesThe New York ...
- Go West, Old Men - New York TimesThe New York Time...
- Priceless....
- Fw: Success! A major step towards satellite voting...
- Lyrics to Neil Young's "Let's Impeach the President"
- Rove lawyer: My client is not a target
- Meanwhile, a word about impeachment
- Bush, following and flip-flopping, takes a stand o...
- We told you so...
- Iraq: A Handy Rebuttal to the "We Have to Finish t...
- Top 10 Conservative Idiots
- 1000 Days To Go with FuckStick George
- Save The Internet
- Halliburton Project Not Completed; Just A Coincide...
- CSI: Trade Deficit - New York TimesThe New York Ti...
- On Waking Up Sleepless in the Middle of the Night
- Documentary: Giuliani Time
- Intelligence on Iran nuclear threat seen as inadeq...
- More Torture
- 2006 elections stakes: investigations of everything
- If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An In...
- Fitz vs. Turd Blossom?
- Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info
- AIPAC judge approve Rice subpoena
- The Great Revulsion - New York TimesThe New York T...
- Fw: Iraq Dispatches: Save the Internet
- Free Speech?
- Beware the Bombing of Iran
- Walking the White House Plank
- Attacking Iran: Are they nuts?
- Fw: Peace in Iraq Call-In Day Monday 4/24 - FCNL
- The Nuclear Power Beside Iraq
- $10 Billion per Month-Feeling Safer Yet?
- Bush's Nutty Nuclear Braggadocio
- The questions McClellan never answered
- The "Decider"
- Fw: Chinese President Comes to Washington: What Ne...
- Rumsfeld Shouldn't Be Fired. He Should Be Indicted.
- Recipe for Holy War: Add Two Nut Jobs and Stir
- A Supreme Mutiny
- RNC's Immigration Bamboozle
- Bombs That Would Backfire
- Scalia: The disorderly justice
- With Tax Break Expired, Middle Class Faces a Great...
- Neil Young Records "Impeach the President" Song
- Blair refuses to back Iran strike
- Documents Link Rumsfeld to Prisoner's Interrogation
- Desert Rats Leave The Sinking Ship
- Cracks in The Constitution?
- The slow-motion trap
- The Human Costs of Bombing Iran
- If You Liked the Iraq War, You'll Love the Iran War
- Problems mount from 9-11 fallout
- Reid fights back
- Bush's bluster
- Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years Away - New Yo...
- Seeds of a future coup?
- Stinkin Liberal State Offers Health Insurance To A...
- Are We Really Going To Nuke Iran?
- Bush: Idiot and Liar?
- Bush and the Constant State of War
- Cheney at the ballpark: They weren't yelling Bruuu...
- Now Powell Tells Us
- Yes He Would
- Bush/Cheney in the Crosshairs
- Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House
- Democrats . . . Si!
- THE IRAN PLANS
- A leak about the leak, but more questions than ans...
- An October Surprise?
- Bush Critics Alarmed over Reports of Possible Stri...
- When Will Democrats Break With Bush?
- Libby testimony shows a White House pattern of int...
- Republican Senator Says Bush, Cheney Should Explai...
- Fool Me Twice
- U.S. Considers Use of Nuclear Weapons Against Iran
- Cheney at center of effort to discredit
- Libby, Gonzales Provied More Grounds for Censure o...
-
▼
April
(137)
No comments:
Post a Comment