America Still Pretty Sure It Meant to Board the Straight Talk Local
John "The Artist Formerly Known As Maverick" McCain got a nice big kiss from thePostmagazine yesterday, with a lengthy profile that paints him, improbably, as both the inevitable "heir" to the Bush dynastyandsomeone who can get elected. McCain, the only man in the country besides Joe Lieberman who manages to out-hawk the President on Iraq, which is currently polling slightly less popular than RJ Reynolds' "cigarettes for school kids" program, also portrays himself, to great effect, as the Senate's single most gullible member:
McCain himself notes that there are several areas in which he continues to disagree with Bush, but even there he tends to make allowances. Last year he pushed through an amendment explicitly banning torture of terrorist suspects that Bush opposed. Bush signed the bill but issued a "signing statement" leaving him the option of waiving the ban when national security is at stake. McCain says he's not troubled by the statement because Bush has personally assured him he will enforce the law.
The explanation may lie in McCain's MAVERICK persona -- he admits to standing by the President so faithfully because the man's numbers have been at Carter levels for going on a year now -- which helps to reinforce his apparent role as the man who knows he deserves your vote because he takes a principled, considered stand firmly against everything you believe.
The McCain Makeover [WP]