John McCain -- 61 Flip-Flops and Counting

By Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report.
Posted July 10, 2008.

McCain argues that flip-flops are an example of a political
leader who can't be trusted -- so he might as well drop out of the race.

 
National Security Policy
1. McCain thought Bush's warrantless wiretap program circumvented
the law; now he believes the opposite.
2. McCain insisted that everyone, even "terrible killers,"
"the worst kind of scum of humanity," and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, "deserve to have some
adjudication of their cases," even if that means "releasing some of
them." McCain now believes the
opposite.
3. He opposed
indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached
the same conclusion, he called it "one of the worst decisions in the
history of this country."
4. In February, McCain reversed
course on prohibiting waterboarding.
5. McCain favored closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay
before he was against it.
6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani
mountains with Predators, McCain criticized him for it. He's since come to the opposite
conclusion.
Foreign Policy
7. McCain was for kicking Russia
out of the G8 before
he was against it.
8. McCain supported moving "toward
normalization of relations" with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
9. McCain believed the United
States should engage in
diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
10. McCain believed the United States
should engage
in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
11. McCain is both for and against a "rogue
state rollback" as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
12. McCain used to champion the Law
of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty's behalf
before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
13. McCain was against divestment from
South Africa before he was for it.
Military Policy
14. McCain recently claimed that he was the "greatest critic" of
Rumsfeld's failed Iraq
policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as "a mission
accomplished." In March 2004, he said, "I'm confident we're on the
right course." In December 2005, he said, "Overall, I think a
year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the
course."
15. McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S.
military presence in Iraq
on multiple
occasions, concluding, on multiple occasions, that a Korea-like presence is
both a good idea and a bad idea.
16. McCain said before the war in Iraq, "We will win this
conflict. We will win it easily." Four years later, McCain said he knew
all along that the war in Iraq
war was "probably going to be long and hard and tough."
17. McCain has repeatedly said it's a dangerous mistake to tell the
"enemy" when U.S.
troops would be out of Iraq.
In May, McCain announced that most American troops would be home from Iraq by 2013.
18. McCain was against expanding the GI Bill before he was
for it.
Domestic Policy
19. McCain defended "privatizing"
Social Security. Now he says he's against privatization (though he actually
still supports it.)
20. McCain wanted
to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases
of rape and incest. Now he doesn't.
21. McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at
Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Now he believes the opposite.
22. He argued that the NRA should
not have a role in the Republican Party's policy making. Now he believes
the opposite.
23. In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut
underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide
resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won't commit to supporting a regulation bill
he's co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris' former lobbyist as his senior
campaign adviser.
24. McCain is both for and against earmarks
for Arizona.
25. McCain's first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners
facing foreclosure shouldn't be "rewarded" for acting
"irresponsibly." His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite
position.
26. McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to
saying gay marriage shouldn't
be allowed.
27. McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. before he
supported it.
28. McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he's pro-ethanol.
29. McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
30. In
2005, McCain endorsed intelligent design creationism, a year later he said the opposite,
and a few months after that, he was both for and against creationism at the same time.
Economic Policy
31. McCain was against Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them.
32. John McCain initially argued that economics is not an area of expertise
for him, saying, "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about
economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues; I still need to
be educated," and "The issue of economics is not something I've
understood as well as I should." He now falsely denies ever having made
these remarks and insists that he has a "very strong"
understanding of economics.
33. McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of
his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no
longer even try to reach that goal. And soon after that, McCain abandoned his
second position and went back to his first.
34. McCain said in 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were
"too
tilted to the wealthy." By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and
falsely argued that he opposed the cuts because of increased government
spending.
35. McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
36. McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any
circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a
"'read my lips' candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?" referring
to George H.W. Bush's 1988 pledge. "No new taxes," McCain responded.
Two weeks later, McCain said,
"I'm not making a 'read my lips' statement, in that I will not raise
taxes."
37. McCain has changed his entire economic worldview on multiple
occasions.
38. McCain believes Americans are both better and
worse off economically than they were before Bush took office.
Energy Policy
39. McCain supported the moratorium
on coastal drilling; now he's against it.
40. McCain recently announced his strong opposition to a windfall tax on oil
company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly
comfortable with the idea.
41. McCain endorsed a cap-and-trade policy with a mandatory emissions cap.
In mid-June, McCain announced he wants the caps
to be voluntary.
42. McCain explained his belief that a temporary suspension of the federal
gas tax would provide an immediate economic stimulus. Shortly thereafter, he
argued the
exact opposite.
43. McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner
legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn't.
Immigration Policy
44. McCain was a co-sponsor of the
DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants' kids who
graduate from high school. Now he's against it.
45. On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that
he would vote
against his own bill.
46. In April, McCain promised voters that he would secure the borders
"before proceeding to other reform measures." Two months later, he abandoned his
public pledge, pretended that he'd never made the promise in the first
place, and vowed that a comprehensive immigration reform policy has always
been, and would always be, his "top priority."
Judicial Policy and the Rule of Law
47. McCain said he would "not impose a
litmus test on any nominee." He used to promise the opposite.
48. McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in
the administration's warrantless surveillance program as
a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
49. McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
Campaign, Ethics, and Lobbying Reform
50. McCain supported his
own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn't.
51. In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying
coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving
"feedback" on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups
that he opposes
his own measure.
52. McCain supported a campaign-finance bill, which bore his name, on
strengthening the public-financing system. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
Politics and Associations
53. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist John Hagee.
Now he doesn't.
54. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist Rod Parsley.
Now he doesn't.
55. McCain says he considered and
did not consider joining John Kerry's Democratic ticket in 2004.
56. McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
57. McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as "an agent of
intolerance" in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the
man who said Americans "deserved" the 9/11 attacks.
58. In 2000, McCain accused Texas
businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending "dirty
money" to help finance Bush's presidential campaign. McCain not only filed
a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he
also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out
to the Wylys for support.
59. McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones
University before he was
for it.
60. McCain decided in 2000 that he didn't want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, believing he "would taint the image of the 'Straight Talk
Express.'" Kissinger is now the honorary co-chair for his presidential campaign in New
York.
61. McCain believed powerful right-wing activist/lobbyist Grover Norquist
was "corrupt, a shill for dictators, and (with just a dose of sarcasm)
Jack Abramoff's gay lover." McCain now considers Norquist a key
political ally.