McCain risks ‘flip-flop’ jibes by voters

[EV_Ares]

Nobody is yet calling John McCain a “flip-flopper”. But the Republican nominee’s increasingly finely balanced efforts to shore up his support among the shrinking Republican base while reaching out to independents is starting to fire up the critics.

On Tuesday morning, he launched an advertisement reminding voters of his repeated clashes with President George W. Bush over climate change, which Mr McCain believes is real and requires urgent action.

In the afternoon, he delivered a speech to the oil industry in Houston, calling for a lifting of the moratorium on offshore drilling in order to reduce petrol prices.

Mr McCain’s shift on offshore drilling – which contrasts with his strong support for upholding the moratorium in his 2000 bid for the Republican nomination – could further chip away at his reputation for being a “straight talker”.

Some even compare his shifting stances with those of John Kerry, the 2004 ­Democratic candidate, who was skewered by Mr Bush for his contortions over the Iraq war.

“John McCain was against Mr Bush’s tax cuts before he was for them, and now he is in favour of offshore drilling after he was against it,” says Thomas Mann at the Brookings Institution think-tank. “If Senator McCain continues to try to appeal to the base and to the centre simultaneously in this way, then his straight-talk brand is going to suffer.”

Mr McCain’s dilemma is real. Unlike Mr Bush in 2004, Mr McCain cannot win the election simply by turning out the Republican faithful, because the number of Republicans has shrunk dramatically. Since 2004, public support has shifted heavily towards the Democrats.

Link to entire article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b4c2270-3c99-11dd-b958-0000779fd2ac.html

[agentS]

1. Too late now.

The Article in question says "nobody". Hell, we've been calling him a flip-flopper since he entered the race.

That's his ass. He should've thought about it before he opened his mouth and inserted his foot.

Straight Talk Express? Bullshyt! More like flip-flop express!

[TwilightGardener]

2. When have the media caught on that he's a flip-flopper? I can't believe Kerry used

to catch the shit he did for changing his mind on ONE issue--McLettuce has done a 180 on almost every position he used to hold.

[Winterblues]

3. While I understand Democrats desire to have something stick to McCain

IMO this is a shaky attack. When a person flips on a subject it is usually because they have given the subject much thought and came to a different conclusion than they first reached or maybe circumstances have changed. It tells me the person is a thoughtful person willing to change their mind when presented with the facts in a new light. I would call it Progressive in fact where I would call never changing one's mind no matter what develops as being Conservative and Dogmatic..