Do you think the John McCain of 2000 would vote for the John McCain of 2008?

[ck4829]

Poll question: Do you think the John McCain of 2000 would vote for the John McCain of 2008?

You know, the guy who was against tax cuts for the rich and correctly labeled Christian Right leaders as agents of intolerance, where did he go?

Well anyway, do you think that guy would vote for this guy?

[BlooInBloo]

1. He wasn't any more of a maverick then, no matter how deluded people are about it.

[Believing Is Art]

2. I sincerely pity John McCain

Note: I'd rather be hated than pitied. Sympathy and empathy shouldn't be confused.

I think John McCain was expected to go into the military because of his family's background. In another life he may have been a perfectly content car dealer, insurance salesman, or some other less dramatic professional.

There's no question that what happened to John McCain as a POW was traumatic. Yet instead of getting help he took up a morally reprehensible personal life. And now this untreated conditioned coupled with the harder-to-conceal-every-day senility of age is affecting his judgment on the best choices for this country.

At one time, there was some glimmer of truth of the "maverick" John McCain, a moderate who did not openly embrace the far right idealogues. This isn't as true as his now glamorized portrayal hints, but he was a more moderate voice to the neoconservatives. When the truly despicable smears against him by the Rove machine and, unfortunately, a louder anti-intellectual and bigoted movement on the right sealed Bush's nomination in 2000, John McCain had a choice to make. He could spend his time in the Senate during Bush's presidency to shape himself as the leader of the more moderate Republican faction that was not enchanted with Bush, or he could sacrifice his image as a maverick and someone who can "reach across the aisle" in order to win the nomination in 2008. He mistakenly chose the latter.

John McCain is someone who, based on circumstances outside his control, has been forced to make difficult decisions again and again, for himself and the country. Unfortunately, in nearly every case, he has made the wrong one.