How John McCain lost a longtime admirer

[RedEarth]

By ELIZABETH DREW | 9/17/08 4:57 PM EDT

I have been a longtime admirer of John McCain. During the 2000 Republican presidential primaries I publicly defended McCain against the pro-Bush Republicans’ whisper campaign that he was too unstable to be president (aware though I was that he had a temper). Two years later I published a positive book about him, “Citizen McCain.”

........

When Bush, issued a “signing statement” in 2006 on McCain’s hard-fought legislation placing prohibitions on torture, saying he would interpret the measure as he chose, McCain barely uttered a peep. And then, in 2006, in one of his most disheartening acts, McCain supported a “compromise” with the administration on trials of Guantanamo detainees, yielding too much of what the administration wanted, and accepted provisions he had originally opposed on principle. Among other things, the bill sharply limited the rights of detainees in military trials, stripped habeas corpus rights from a broad swath of people “suspected” of cooperating with terrorists, and loosened restrictions on the administration’s use of torture. (The Supreme Court later ruled portions of this measure unconstitutional.)

McCain’s caving in to this “compromise” did it for me. This was further evidence that the former free-spirited, supposedly principled, maverick was morphing into just another panderer – to Bush and the Republican Party’s conservative base.

Other aspects of McCain, including his temperament, began to trouble me. He seemed disturbingly bellicose. He gave the Iraq war unflagging support no matter the facts. He still talks about “winning” the war, though George W. Bush gave that up some time ago. As the war became increasingly unpopular, he employed the useful technique of blaming its execution rather than recognizing the misconceptions that had led him to be one of the most enthusiastic champions of the war in the first place.

.......

McCain’s recent conduct of his campaign – his willingness to lie repeatedly (including in his acceptance speech) and to play Russian roulette with the vice-presidency, in order to fulfill his long-held ambition – has reinforced my earlier, and growing, sense that John McCain is not a principled man.
In fact, it’s not clear who he is.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13541_Page2.html

[4lbs]

1. Wow! One of McCain's biggest supporters turned on him.

This is much, much, worse than anything that the Rothschild woman did in supporting McCain instead of Obama.

In fact, the Rothschild support of McCain can be used against him as well as this reversal from Elizabeth Drew.

[Phredicles]

3. And yet Rothschild's the only one who's gotten any press - go figure,

even though it's not like Drew is the only conservative to come out in favor of Obama in recent days.

For example, LA's beloved ex-mayor, Dick Riordan, endorsed Obama. But I'll still vote for him.;):P

[Jade Fox]

2. "There's a certain lack of seriousness in him."

For me, this is one of the most telling lines in Drew's article. I've noticed a certain don't-really-give-a-damn quality in McCain, who I paid no attention to before his nomination. He reminds me of Fred Thompson when he was campaigning for the GOP nomination--you could tell Thompson didn't really care.

It's possible this disconnect on McCain's part is a deteriorating health issue. Whatever it's source, it creeps me out.