I see that Charles Krauthammer has written yet another column about Barack Obama’s “flip-flops.” What fun! Can I play? Only I’ll focus on John McCain.
McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy; now he supports them. He also once believed the estate tax was fair; not anymore.
McCain once firmly opposed torturing suspected terrorists at Gitmo; now he’s not so sure. He also formerly opposed the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion a couple of weeks ago, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
At one time, McCain supported the moratorium on off-shore oil drilling; now he’s against it. He also opposes a windfall tax on oil company profits. Earlier this year, he supported such a tax.
In 2002, McCain criticized televangelists such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as “agents of intolerance.” By 2007, he was actively courting the support of far-right religious extremists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Then he shifted again, denouncing the very pastors he’d previously sought out.
What’s McCain’s position on abortion? Who knows? In 1999, he told reporters that he did not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Now he does. In 2000 and again in 2007, he called for an amendment to the GOP platform on abortion to allow exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the mother’s life. Today, he opposes such an exception.
Gosh, where to stop?
He once supported storing spent nuclear fuel at
He once supported moving toward normalizing relations with
He once believed the
He once argued that the NRA should have no role in shaping GOP policy. Now he believes the opposite.
He once opposed a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he supports it.
I eagerly await Krauthammer’s next column, where I’m sure he’ll discuss all of this at length.
