McCain: A womb story
Sen. McCain was once known as a self-described maverick, at times even working with those across the aisle for such things as ending the out-of-control "earmarks" added to each piece of legislation.
After being mercilessly attacked by George W. during the race for the Republican nomination in 2000, he appeared to almost become more moderate, making wise choices when holding the hands of great men like Ted Kennedy. He was an advocate for immigration reform, he once stated he was for closing Gitmo, he spoke out against using torture and he even stated that if the military leaders felt repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell was necessary, he would respect their decision.
Then something happened — Sarah Palin.
Having called himself a maverick wasn't enough, because his voting record showed he voted with Bush over 95% of the time, yet he was seen as too moderate to his base. He was losing the conservative vote, the evangelical vote and the over-patriotic/under-educated vote. He fought what Palin represented, at first, being a man who respected some form of education, not too keen on fear-mongering and oftentimes choosing facts over fiction. Then, he started to gain in the polls.
Slowly, Sen. McCain, willing to reach across the aisle for America, became Sen. McCain, willing to say anything to win votes. A year later he was against the very immigration reform he once co-sponsored, he was no longer seeing torture as such a bad thing and was not so sure we should close Gitmo. When the joint military leaders came out publicly that they believed Don't Ask, Don't Tell should be repealed, he decided he didn't want to 'respect their decision' any longer.
News stories started coming out concerning this 'new McCain', willing to say whatever it took to win an election. He started singing about out of control crime rates in Arizona, illegal immigration invasions, bigger walls and those pesky drug mules. All of it unsubstantiated with facts, but able to scare the uninformed voters he hoped to win over.
I don't think he has had a change of heart, I think we are seeing the emergence of another John McCain, the 'other' John McCain, who has laid dormant since the womb.
