I strongly urge everyone to get your hands on the (in print only) article by Connie Bruck in this week's New Yorker magazine:
McCain's Party : The Arizona senator gets ready for 2008
It goes into tremendous detail of the dynamics of John McCain the man, the 2000 campaign and how Bush fucked McCain over, the 2004 campaign- where Kerry foolishly let it be known he was seriously considering McCain as VP, and how Rove turned it around to bite Kerry in the ass- all the time using McCain as a tool more than Hanoi ever could have hoped for.
As a staunch Kerry fan, it was for me, a very painful article, because I knew so much of it was true- that Kerry truly believed McCain was a friend, and was then devestated when McCain happily participated in Bush's campaign out of a sense of duty to the greater good of the GOP (apparently, Kerry never felt more betrayed, although thankfully, McCain still, REALLY hates Bush's guts). McCain exclaims why he (purportedly) believed Bush was better than Kerry ("...he's indecisive, EVERYONE knows Kerry is indecisive!!!") Personally, I think he is just deliberate.
Now let me share my thoughts: McCain is the GOP's guaranteed winner in '08. NOT the choice of the extreme right wing of the GOP, but the Rockefeller moderates, who in fact did cross over for Kerry last year. If the GOP nominates McCain, you can take it to the bank- ANY Dem we nominate is toast- McCain is "44". He will beat anyone- Hillary, Kerry, et al... McCain proved this week how adept he is by 'starring' in the compromise- he was a hero to moderates, and now after Bush, McCain is the logical choice to 'heal' the divided country. (That, he acknowledges, will be his selling point)
Now there are many interesting things in the article, but what stood out for me was this: it turns out, that McCain promised MORE to the pro-life movement than Bush himself in 2000. McCain promised ONLY to nominate pro-life judges, and he was so persuasive, that he got early drop-out candidate Gary Bauer to work for him and help him in South Carolina. The main reason McCain lost SC (the other reason is below), was Pat Robertson, who used his vast and much larger Christian network to mobilize against McCain- even though Bush had never promised to explicitly and specifically nominate pro-life judges (he consistently described "no litmus test" and to appoint "strict constructionists") So IOW, Robertson apparently worked AGAINST principle and for the Bush family. But the real truth is, and apparently everyone to the right of McCain knows this: McCain is not really a pro-life candidate, as can be evidenced by some of the moderation he has taken in his career, and by the very fact that the Christian right HATES him. The facts are this: early on in his political career, McCain decided to posture himself as pro-life ONLY because he knew it would help him as a Republican- not that he really believes it- it was very nearly an arbitrary decision. His family, is in fact, somewhat LIBERAL- his daughter voted for KERRY, and his mom, is at the least pro-choice. So what McCain will do to guarantee victory in '08, is RUN from his pro-life statements (if the ChFristians let him get out of the primary).
The other reason John McCain lost SC is what he said when it was his turn to talk about the condfederate flag- the first thing he said was what most anyone here would say- 'it is a symbol of slavery and hate'...(oops) His closest consultants knew it was over in SC as soon as he said that. The first appearance in SC following that, he read from a written statement that he 'believed it was up to the states', and that it was a 'symbol of heritage', etc... delivered with all the enthusiasm of a hostage reading his proscribed propoganda before a camera in Hanoi. Nobody believed him, and he looked like a pandering hypocrite. In much the same way, nobody on the Christian right believed him when he said he was pro-life.
So, should we be facing this man, a bona-fide war hero, from what I can see, our only hope to weaken this very formidable candidate is to nail McCain on HIS flip flops.
Straight Talk Express?.. we'll see....
The article is not available online, but there is a Q&A with the author: http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/050530on_onlineonly01