McCain wins gold for flip-flops

By Weekly Archive On Aug 6, 2008

The
2008 Summer Olympics haven’t even begun, but the first gold medal has
already been awarded to John McCain: for trouncing all contenders in
the International Flip-Flopping competition.

Indeed,
even though he’s almost 72 years old, McCain is still remarkably
agile. He’s performed more flip-flops than any other presidential
candidate in history. This week alone, McCain flipped on three
issues: taxes, affirmative action and offshore drilling.

As
recently as July 7, McCain told a town hall meeting in Denver:
"Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t." And on
March 16, he had promised radio talk show host Sean Hannity he would
never raise taxes. "Do you mean none?" Hannity asked.
"None," McCain replied. Yet on July 27, appearing on ABC’s
"This Week," McCain indicated he was open to raising Social
Security taxes. "I don’t want tax increases," he told
George Stephanopoulos. "But that doesn’t mean that anything is
off the table." Conservatives howled. So two days later, McCain
reverted to claiming he would never raise taxes. Flip, flop, flip.

Ten
years ago, McCain opposed a resolution in the Arizona legislature
that would have asked voters to eliminate affirmative action programs
in the state based on race, gender or ethnic origin. At the time, he
called such ballot initiatives "divisive." But this year,
McCain has endorsed an identical measure, now on the ballot, to ban
affirmative action. Flip, flop.

It’s
the same with offshore drilling: McCain was against it before he was
for it. He has always opposed drilling for oil in ANWAR. In late May,
he repeated his opposition to drilling for oil anywhere off the
coast, telling a Greensdale, Wis., audience: "With those
resources, which would take years to develop, you would only postpone
or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels. We are going
to have to go to alternative energy." Yet today, McCain has made
offshore drilling the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Flip,
flop.

That’s
three big flip-flops in one week! But they’re not the only ones. They
come on top of earlier flip-flops on major issues. For example,
McCain was once the leading opponent of the Bush tax cuts. "I
cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the
benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of
middle-class Americans who need tax relief," he said in February
2006. That was then, this is now. Today he’s the biggest champion of
extending the Bush tax cuts.

Running
for president in 2000, McCain disparaged the influence of religious
conservatives on the Republican Party, labeling Rev. Jerry Falwell
and others "agents of intolerance." Today, he has crawled
into bed with them. In 1983, as a freshman congressman, he voted
against creating a federal Martin Luther King holiday and opposed an
Arizona state holiday honoring King in 1987. In hindsight, McCain now
says he was mistaken. Give him credit for finally seeing the light,
but it’s still a flip-flop.

Believe
it or not, McCain has even waffled on torture. In the wake of Abu
Ghraib, Senator McCain, a torture victim himself, authored
legislation to make all forms of torture against prisoners of war
illegal, including waterboarding. Yet this year candidate McCain
opposed Sen. Diane Feinstein’s legislation to make waterboarding
illegal, and then voted to uphold President Bush’s veto of the bill.

In
his biggest flip-flop of all, John McCain has abandoned his pledge to
run a positive, issues-based campaign. Instead, he’s waging a totally
negative campaign, aimed at tearing down Barack Obama. Calling him
unpatriotic and accusing him of not caring for the troops are the
kind of campaign tactics McCain once denounced, but now practices
daily.

Of
course, some may criticize McCain for his inconsistency, but they
don’t understand. McCain is just trying to make it easier for voters.
The way things stand with McCain today, there’s no need to despair if
you disagree with McCain on any issue. Simply be patient. Within a
couple of days, McCain will probably change his mind. He’s already
flipped more than a hotcake at IHOP.

It’s
hard to believe they once called John Kerry the great flip-flopper,
based on one lousy comment about voting against funding for war in
Iraq. John McCain has flip-flopped so many times, on so many issues,
he makes John Kerry look like the Rock of Gibraltar.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.