Reply #25: Great link. Lots of solid info on McCain. Thank you. [View All]

[DLnyc]

My summary after reading it:
1. McCain is all over the place on a number of issues, often going from complete support to complete opposition, or visa versa.
2. In many areas he is a hardline traditional rethug: a longtime hawk, supports death penalty, supports 'war on drugs'
3. Possibly because he needs hispanic vote in Arizona to stay in the Senate, he has angered other conservatives by being somewhat moderate on immigration.
4. In the past, he has been a republican who was willing to stand up and oppose the BushCo madness--but he seems to have abandoned that stance in order to run for president.
5. His caving in on the torture issue (after being a POW himself) is outright nauseating, in my opinion:
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McCain, whose six years of captivity and torture in Vietnam made him a national celebrity, negotiated (in September 2006) a compromise in the Senate for the Military Commissions Act of 2006, suspending habeas corpus provisions for anyone deemed by the Executive Branch an "unlawful combatant" and barring them from challenging their detentions in court. Coming on the heels of a Supreme Court decision adverse to the White House, McCain's compromise gave a retroactive, nine-year immunity to U.S. officials who authorized, ordered, or committed acts of torture and abuse, and permitted the use of statements obtained through torture to be used in military tribunals so long as the abuse took place by December 30, 2005.<22> McCain's compromise permitted the President to establish permissible interrogation techniques and to "interpret the meaning and application" of international Geneva Convention standards, so long as the coercion fell short of "serious" bodily or psychological injury.<23> Widely dubbed McCain's "torture compromise", the bill was signed into law by George W. Bush on October 17, 2006, shortly before the 2006 midterm elections.
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All in all: Though not as rabid as the Bush-Cheney neocon types, McCain is conservative in several dangerous ways. His various 'maverick' positions make him look moderate, but when push comes to shove he does the wrong thing almost always.