McCain still wants to be president. So for the last couple of years, he has been sucking up to Bush. In 2004, he traveled with Bush and campaigned for Bush, all the while making believe that the two of them were the best of friends. And this is the way it has been ever since.
McCain at one time was the originator of the McCain-Feingold legislation to reduce election corruption. True, the law did not help as much as he had thought it would. But today, when asked if he would introduce new campaign-finance-reform legislation, the straight talker says "No." The new, improved politician does not want money to be a problem for him.
Yesterday, on Meet the Press, McCain told Gregory (standing in for Russert) that we can't win in Iraq with the "Whack-A-Mole" approach: We whack 'em down in one place and the insurgents rise in another place. Gregory said that RNC Chair Ken Mehlman called this strategy "adapting to win." So the straight talker said that what Ken was saying is "correct." Mehlman is correct, even though he does not agree with McCain?!
McCain spent some time expressing his frustration with the way things were going in Iraq and claiming that we needed more troops. Here's a section of the interview:
GREGORY: If more troops are needed, do you think the president's prepared to commit more troops?
SEN. McCAIN: I do not know because I don't know what his thinking is, but I know that the president's committed to win and I know the president's committed to prevail.
MR. GREGORY: But is it your sense that he does not share your view? Because he said repeatedly if more troops are needed, they'll get them.
SEN. McCAIN: Well, it's obvious that I have not shared the administration's view.
After beating around the Bush, McCain finally had to admit he and Bush disagreed.
After expressing his dissatisfaction with the many mistakes Rumsfeld made in Iraq, McCain was asked if Rumsfeld should be fired. The straight talker said that it is up to President Bush.
When asked whether he would campaign for Alan Schlessinger, the Republican candidate for the senate in Connecticut, the straight talker said that the RNC decides where he campaigns. I was surprised to hear that big-shot McCain has nothing to say about where he campaigns. Poor, little McCain.
It seems that we have a new McCain, with a little less straight talk and a lot more pandering and other forms of political expression.
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