John McCain's Old Fans Fight Disillusionment (Andrew Ferguson, Bloomberg)

[swag]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_ferguson&sid=aLaXZXE4uK08


. . . Now the romance is coming to an end. As McCain eyes the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, he's scandalizing his left- leaning admirers. The senator who once dazzled them by calling evangelical leaders like Jerry Falwell ``agents of intolerance'' has agreed to give the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University.

And it gets worse, if possible. McCain recently had kind words for South Dakota's uncompromising anti-abortion law. He endorses the Iraq war with the enthusiasm of a team mascot. And this year he voted to extend the same Bush tax cuts he opposed (to heart-stopping acclaim) in 2003.

What's going on? The standard explanation is that McCain is pandering to the right-wing base he needs for the nomination. That's probably true -- and, to his admirers, crushingly out of character. They prefer not to consider the possibility that, way back when, he was pandering to them, too. . . .

[DanCa]

1. What did Treebeard say in Lord of the Rings?

That's the sound of the forrest waking up.

[acmavm]

2. McCain will whore himself out to whoever he thinks will do him

the most good. He'd sell his soul in a heartbeat if he thought that it would get him into the White House.

Research Charles Keating.