snip:
"I think that gay marriage should be allowed, if there's a ceremony kind of thing, if you want to call it that," McCain answers, searching in vain for the less loaded phrases he knows are out there somewhere, such as "commitment ceremony" or "civil union." "I don't have any problem with that, but I do believe in preserving the sanctity of the union between man and woman." It may not be clear just what McCain is trying to say, but it's easy to see how his words could be skewed in a direction that the Republican right might not like at all.
snip:
But then, out of nowhere, he adds, "Could I just mention one other thing? On the issue of the gay marriage, I believe if people want to have private ceremonies, that's fine. I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal."
snip:
If this awkward little day of straddling feels familiar, it is because McCain has tried it before. In the 2000 campaign, he waded straight into the hottest controversy in South Carolina, not long before his crucial primary showdown with George W. Bush, by offering his unvarnished opinion on whether the Confederate battle flag—the Stars and Bars—should continue to fly over the state capitol. "As we all know, it's a symbol of racism and slavery," McCain said. After John Weaver and others did more than whisper in his ear, McCain took to reading aloud from a piece of paper with a statement that began, "As to how I view the flag, I understand both sides," and went downhill from there.
snip:
he calls the leader of North Korea a "pip-squeak in platform shoes," and in seconding my view that Islamabad has limited charms, he volunteers that the Pakistani capital "sucks." At a nascar race in New Hampshire, he introduces Bobby Allison, "the greatest driver in the history of racing," to one of the journalists following him that day, declaring, "This is Adam Nagourney, New York Times. They're a Communist paper, but he's O.K."
snip:
To a gathering of businessmen he says, "I want to keep health-care costs down until I get sick, and then I don't give a goddamn,"
snip:
McCain said he believed that intelligent design, which proponents portray as a more intellectually respectable version of biblical creationism, should be taught in science classes. But then, in the face of intense skepticism from his listeners, he kept modifying his views—going into reverse evolution.
snip:
"Yes, he's a social conservative, but his heart isn't in this stuff," one former aide told me, referring to McCain's instinctual unwillingness to impose on others his personal views about issues such as religion, sexuality, and abortion. "But he has to pretend
, and he's not a good enough actor to pull it off. He just can't fake it well enough."
http://www.vanityfair.com./politics/features/2007/02/mccain200702