John McCain has bent with the wind in his Arizona primary. Will he snap upright again?

[pampango]

Source: The Economist

New mandate, new maverick

Republican voters are looking for “true conservatives”, not RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). And, strange as it seems less than two years after he was their presidential candidate, Mr McCain is now viewed by many as the quintessential RINO. He once collaborated with the Democrats on immigration reform—a double sin to those who believe in total war against the “socialists” and no amnesty for illegal immigrants. He took global warming seriously, and promoted cap-and-trade legislation: two more stains on his character. He called himself a “maverick”; but to today’s grumpy conservative base that looks less like a badge of honour than a licence to cut deals in Washington and ignore the voters back home.

The most recent polls give Mr McCain a lead of 20 points over his main opponent, J.D. Hayworth. It has, in fact, been clear for weeks that Mr McCain has crushed his rivals and is cruising towards re-election. Where did it go wrong for the tragedians, and for Mr Hayworth? The challenger’s claim to be a “consistent conservative” who would scythe down big government was shattered when the McCain team unearthed a three-year-old infomercial in which this self-proclaimed champion of fiscal rectitude and standing on your own feet flogged advice on how people could extract free money from Uncle Sam.

The former maverick has rebranded himself as a “partisan” who toes the party line: he has gone quiet on climate change and flip-flopped on gays in the military. Arizona is in a panic—some of it justified, most stirred up by election-seeking politicians—about illegal immigration from Mexico. Mr McCain is not one of the main stirrers, but nor has he sought to calm the nativist passions. The slogan of the erstwhile immigration reformer is: “Secure the border first”. Mr McCain stands with Arizona in its confrontation with the federal government over SB1070, a controversial state law plainly hostile in spirit to the more tolerant values that he was once proud to champion and which earned him admirers from the liberal end of politics.

The fascinating question is not why Mr McCain has run the campaign he has: the answer is all too obvious. But might a new mandate bring back the old maverick? A centrist willing to cross party lines can be a star in a finely balanced Senate, and just think how liberating another six-year term could be to a man of 73. The fascinating question is whether winning in Arizona will erase his bitterness at losing to Barack Obama. “I’m reminded of that every day,” he blurted out at a White House meeting in February. Master that emotion and he can still be one of the great men on the stage. Submit to it and it will turn into his fatal flaw.

Read more: http://www.economist.com/node/16791768?story_id=16791768&fsrc=rss

[Warpy]

1. He got bent in 2000

which would have been his year had the plutocracy not decided on Stupid as their malleable savior and worked at all levels to rig him into office.

He hasn't snapped upright in the last 10 years and it's not likely to happen now.

[joeybee12]

2. A little man like McLame will never be "one of the great men on the stage"

That opportunity passed by 30+ years ago.

[catgirl]

3. He was never a maverick...always a flip-flopper

and a curmudgeon.

[kenfrequed]

4. This really is his last shot to run as his own man.

It is likely to be his last turn in the US Senate and he has no reason to try to fluff up his record for any delusional presidential aspirations.


That said I hope that this tough primary washes out the republican base and drops turn-out to the point where a decent Democrat gets the job.

[rocktivity]

5. Oh, so it's McCain

who's the real "last airbender"!

:headbang:
rocktivity

[damntexdem]

6. Only if the wind blows him upright.

;-)