Now that the Republicans have started their presidential campaign, it's time to disabuse Americans of the notion that McCain is somehow a moderate. Paul Krugman today gives all the info. you'll ever need to prove that McCain is your run-of-the-mill hard-core right winger. I know, I know, the column is blocked to public access by "Times Select" but this passage is key:
So here's what you need to know about John McCain.Krugman also directs his readers to www.voteview.com which ranks McCain "as the Senate's third most conservative member." He's behind only Sununu and Kyl which means he's ahead of Brownback and Santorum. Think about that for a second.
He isn't a straight talker. His flip-flopping on tax cuts, his call to send troops we don't have to Iraq and his endorsement of the South Dakota anti-abortion legislation even while claiming that he would find a way around that legislation's central provision show that he's a politician as slippery and evasive as, well, George W. Bush.
He isn't a moderate. Mr. McCain's policy positions and Senate votes don't just place him at the right end of America's political spectrum; they place him in the right wing of the Republican Party.
And he isn't a maverick, at least not when it counts. When the cameras are rolling, Mr. McCain can sometimes be seen striking a brave pose of opposition to the White House. But when it matters, when the Bush administration's ability to do whatever it wants is at stake, Mr. McCain always toes the party line.
