Wow, that didn't take long. Fresh off of his stunning speech Tuesday night where he abandoned the ~25% of Republicans who don't like him anyway as he ran as far and as fast as he could towards the center, John McCain continues on his journey in Detroit. Yes, miraculously the hard-right, Bush-humping McCain that aroused the passions of no one on the right seems to be gone. The new John McCain is flipping, flopping, pandering, and feeling his way towards the political center, as he tries to out-Obama Obama.
Join me below the fold to see the amazing flip-floppery McCain is pulling . . .
Witness the hard-right McCain of days gone by. Well okay, of January:
In January, John McCain campaigned for the Republican nomination in Michigan by giving voters in the economically depressed state a taste of his signature ``straight talk'': some of the jobs they've lost won't be coming back.
. . .
In the primary season, McCain centered much of his economic pitch on lower taxes and curbing spending. He praised Bush's tax policies and said Americans had flourished during the eight years the president has been in office.
In a January speech in Livonia, McCain said it ``wasn't government's job to protect buggy factories and haberdashers when cars replaced carriages and men stopped wearing hats.1'' He didn't want to raise ``false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs,'' he added.
. . .
``Americans overall are better off because we have had a pretty good prosperous time, with low unemployment and low inflation, and a lot of good things have happened,'' McCain said in a Jan. 30 debate of Republican candidates at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
. . .
That compares with December, when McCain unveiled a plan called ``Bold Solutions for Michigan'' that emphasized tax and spending cuts, lower barriers to trade paired with aid for displaced workers, and making Bush's tax cuts permanent.
That was the new old McCain! The old new McCain has searched deep into his political bag of tricks soul and has found a gimmick facet of his personality that allows him to pander more effectively better connect with voters: empathy
``He has to show empathy,'' said Greg Valliere, political strategist at Stanford Group Co. in Washington.
Note that he doesn't have to actually feel it. He just has to show it.
Swell. What does the old new touchy-feely McCain have to say to the fine folks of Michigan, who just five months ago were S.O.L., as far as he was concerned?
Nowadays, the party's presumptive nominee is singing a different tune, striking a populist pose and saying ``new jobs are coming.''
McCain, 71, has changed his message to address voters' anxiety about the economy and disaffection with President George W. Bush's policies, even among Republicans. The shift in tone and emphasis has been notable in Michigan, which has the highest U.S. unemployment rate and is the biggest state that voted Democratic in 2004 that the McCain campaign sees as ripe for moving into the Republican column this year.
. . .
Over the past few months, however, McCain has taken a lesson from Romney, acknowledging recently that ``Americans are hurting.'' Returning to Michigan last month, the Arizona senator told a local television station that he would fight for new jobs and the state wouldn't ``be left behind.''
. . .
Last month, McCain began running an ad in Michigan that pledges to hold corporate chief executives ``accountable,'' restructure mortgage debt, make energy cleaner and cheaper and taxes simpler and fairer.
Wow. That really is some change! It is stunning in its lack of depth! Amazing in its false sincerity! Resolute in its reinforcement of my opinion about The One Thing John McCain Stands For: John McCain.
Anyone have a good "pander bear" graphic?
1In fact, I believe Senator McCain voted against the Haberdashery and Buggy Emergency Stimulus Amendment to the 1910 budget.