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I'm confused. I thought we were all supposed to be celebrating authenticity and rhetoric that matches one's record. For the past decade, John McCain hasn't exactly been a standout economic conservative. He has fought some good fights against wasteful spending, and he bravely voted against the Medicare prescription drug benefit. But he's generally moved in a big government direction since the latter half of the 1990s. We're supposed to ignore that record because Jack Kemp endorsed him? (McCain endorsed Phil Gramm in 1996, so Gramm is just returning the favor.)

How is McCain's position on the Bush tax cuts any different than Mitt Romney's? Indeed, how is McCain's decision to run on the basis of preserving tax cuts he voted against any different than what annoys people about Romney?

I see another parallel: Social conservatives were initially eager to accept Romney as a convert because they were afraid of Rudy Giuliani. Some economic conservatives are afraid enough of Mike Huckabee to accept McCain. So when is the authentic Huckabee of economic conservatives going to emerge and keep the parallel going? I can dream, can't I?

topics:
John McCain, Medicare