The American Spectator

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The Left and McCain

By Philip Klein on 2.12.08 @ 2:33PM

This is rich. Over at the American Prospect, Paul Waldman laments that Barack Obama won't get as favorable coverage in the media as John McCain. The column argues that the media is in love with McCain becuase they think he's a "maverick" but in reality he's that dreaded beast--a "reliable conservative." I imagine that as the months go on, we'll start to see a lot of stories about how McCain is actually a right wing radical after all.

But I just wanted to take issue with one specific point Waldman makes:

So too with the perennial topic of flip-flops. When he ran for president in 2000, McCain decided to skip the Iowa caucus, and noted his opposition to heavy government subsidies of ethanol, made from Iowa corn (a topic of frequent presidential candidate pandering). But in the current campaign, McCain did contest the Iowa caucuses, and by an extraordinary coincidence changed his position on ethanol 180 degrees.

In actuality, McCain still opposed ethanol subsidies this election cycle. If you wanted to pin him as a flip flopper, doing so on the Bush tax cuts and immigration would be easier.

topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Immigration