The real McCain-The media portray him as a GOP maverick. He's really a die-hard conservative.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-alterman20-2008jun20,0,3361955.story

The real McCain

The media portray him as a GOP maverick. He's really a die-hard conservative.
By Eric Alterman and George Zornick
June 20, 2008

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But even though we might be taken with McCain personally, we like to think we would resist the urge to offer the sort of spontaneous testimonials to his character that have gushed from the pens of so many journalists. These would include calling McCain "a cool dude" (Jake Tapper, Salon); "an original, imaginative and at times inspiring candidate" (Jacob Weisberg, Slate); "the bravest candidate in the presidential race" (Dana Milbank, the Washington Post); "an affable man of zealous, unbending beliefs" and "the hero {who} still does things his own way" (Richard Cohen, the Washington Post). We certainly hope that we would not say, as Charles Lane did, writing in the Oct. 18, 1999, issue of the New Republic: "I know it shouldn't be happening, but it is. I'm falling for John McCain."

Believe us, we could go on (and on and on). But suffice it to say that no candidate since John F. Kennedy, and perhaps none since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, has enjoyed such cozy relations with the media.

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Today, McCain calls himself a thorough-going conservative, and he's got the statistics to prove it. He has voted with his party almost 90% of the time this term, which puts him ahead of 29 other Republicans. According to data analyzed at VoteView.com, McCain's voting record in 2005-06 would place him second in the contest for America's most conservative senator in the 109th Congress and eighth in the 110th Senate. McCain supported Bush in 95% of his votes in 2007 and has managed to achieve a perfect 100% score so far in 2008.

But voter ignorance of the "real McCain" is not the fault of the voters. They are simply consuming reports from the media that refuse to take McCain's politics seriously -- like the one by Slate's liberal editor, Jacob Weisberg, subtitled "Psst ... He's Not Really a Conservative," instructing voters that when considering a vote for McCain, it is necessary to "discount his repositioning a bit."

Sure, his plans for Iraq are even more aggressive, expensive and unlikely than are Bush's. Withdrawal, McCain believes, would be "morally reprehensible" and an "unconscionable act of betrayal." And yes, his tax plan is rather more regressive than that of the president. His views on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage are as one with those of the Christian right, and his environmental policies are essentially a dodge. Yes, he's flip-flopped to the right on one issue after another as the presidential race has gotten underway. But so what? He is, after all, a really "cool dude," according to some of America's most thoughtful journalists.

And when, dear reader, was the last time one of these guys steered you wrong?


Eric Alterman is the author, most recently, of "Why We're Liberals," and is the media columnist for the Nation, where a longer version of this article appears. George Zornick is a New York writer.