John McCain: Hypocrite and Trad Pol

As the election nears and the McCain campaign attempts to woo swing voters, here are a few things to keep in mind:(1) McCain voted Bush's way 94 percent of the time and actively courted his endorsement.(2) McCain actively courted radical elements of the religious right until it no longer served his purposes, eroding his credibility.(3) McCain voted against the new GI bill AND against a bill that would have restricted use of torture, and has often voted in a way that makes it hard to believe his statements about his support of the troops and his statements against torture.(4) McCain continually gets facts wrong while campaigning, either from an inability to grasp those facts or through simple memory-fade.(5) McCain has employed lobbyists who undercut his support of campaign finance reform.(6) McCain supports efforts to fight global warming, but his idea of change is still to let the market regulate itself, which is no longer an option we can entertain given the limited time-frame in which we have to turn things around.(7) McCain continues to support the Iraq War without nuance, and to be wishy-washy about pinpointing the real reasons behind the start of the war.(8) McCain refuses to consider a return to pre-Bush US foreign policy, which emphasized negotiation and generally rejected the idea of preemptive unilateral military (or political) action.(9) McCain's voting record on women's health issues is awful, garnering a zero from Planned Parenthood.In short, McCain is not a maverick independent but a clear Washington insider, traditional politician, and Bush supporter. At one time, he might have seemed like a viable "maverick" but in the years since his 2000 presidential campaign, he has steadily traded in his credibility for potential electability.Is that change we can believe in? I don't think so.Jeff