Ken
From the archives…
I will clean this up a bit when I get time. Some of the links are not the best or may have died. But the RNC has already decided that the “flip flop” meme can be recycled for their base and those “low information” voters that gave us Bushies second term can be swayed to do the same for the “third” term with the help of the corporate media.
Fibber McCain keeps on flippin..
If you think Obama is moving to the right for the general election, Check out these McNuggets McCain keeps banging off the right field foul post. Aren’t you supposed to have your base sewed up by the time you’re the nominee?
Signing of the GI Bill: Now enthusiastically for it… after it passed. Previously attacked the Webb Bill. Didn’t even bother to vote on it.
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/43326-mccain-flip-flops-on-the-gi-bill
Campaign reform: On political reform, McCain last January opposed a grassroots lobbying bill he once supported. In 2006, the “New York Sun” reported that his presidential ambitions led McCain to reverse his support of a campaign financial bill called McCain/Feingold.
http://www.nysun.com/national/campaign-finance-effort-resumes-without-mccain/36949/
Alien Minors Act/Immigration: Last October he said he would vote against the development, relief and education for Alien Miners Act that he co-sponsored, and then said he would vote against an immigration bill that he introduced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEeJry0rAT8&feature=related
Gay Marriage: In 2006, he said on “HARDBALL,” quote, I think that gay marriage should be allowed. Then after the commercial break he added, I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEeJry0rAT8&feature=related
Abortion: On abortion, 1999, publicly supporting Roe v. Wade, privately opposing it in a letter to the National Right to Life Committee. In the 2000 debates, he would change the GOP platform to permit exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother. May 2007, “flipped”, ABCNews.com reported.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4824779
Nuclear Waste: No Storing Nuclear waste at Yucca mountain earlier..now flipped
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/28/mccains-about-face-yucca/
Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il: Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il not acceptable until President Bush did it last week.
Negotiating with Cuba/Castro: With Fidel Castro acceptable in 2000, not 2008.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=34637546
Negotiating with Hamas/Terrorists: …with terrorists appropriate when Colin Powell went to Syria and in 2006 when McCain said sooner or later we‘ll talk to Hamas, but not appropriate now re: Obama’s willingness to use diplomacy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/15/exclusive-video-mccain-wa_n_102031.html
Pakistan: Unilateral action against suspected terrorists in Pakistan; “Confused leadership” when Obama suggested it, not when Bush did it.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/02/20/mccain-blasts-obama-for-bushs-attacks-in-pakistan/
Warrantless Wire-taps: Six months ago, presidents had to obey the law, not anymore.
Torture: Torture detainees, no way, except for the CIA. Hold them indefinitely, wrong in 2003, the right move in 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJXvWNoRwM
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1729891,00.html
Iraq War: The Iraq war, the right course 2004, stay the course 2005. Today, McCain has always been a Rumsfeld critic.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/01/04/mccain-iraq-easy/
Tax Cuts: In 2001, he could not in good conscious support them. Now he can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYsKiA3Myyw
Estate Tax: 2006, “I agree with President Roosevelt who created it”. In 2008, “most unfair”.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/12/mccain-realizes-he-doesnt-like-the-estate-tax-after-all/
Privatizing Social Security: This month not for privatizing Social Security, never has been. In 2004, he “didn‘t see how benefits will last without it”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBwMy27Aoc
Balanced Budget: In February, promised a balanced budget in four years by April, make that eight years.
http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001101.htm
Windfall Profits Tax: In May, glad to look at the windfall profits tax. By June, that was Jimmy Carter’s big idea.
http://flipfloptracker.blogspot.com/2008/06/flip-flop-express-windfall-profits-tax.html
Offshore Drilling: In 2000, no new off shore drilling. Last month, it would take years to develop. This month, very helpful in the short term.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/17/mccain-flip-flops-on-offshore-drilling-moratorium/
Coyotes..Bush Big Time Fund Raisers: The Bush fund-raisers McCain called coyotes breaking the law in 2000. By 2006, they were co-chairing McCain fund-raisers.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1880630&page=1
“Agents of Intolerance”: Buddy Jerry Falwell…an “agent of intolerance in 2000”. Kissed Falwell’s ass in 2007… The Reverend Hagee and Parsley in, then out this year alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbrejLsixwk
Martin Luther King Holiday: In 1983, opposed Martin Luther King Day. Today, all for it.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/04/mccain_admits_e.html
Confederate Flag: In 2000, defended South Carolina’s confederate flag as a symbol of heritage. Two years later, McCain calling it, quote, an act of political cowardice not to say the flag should come down. Quote, “everybody said, look out. You can’t win in South Carolina if you say that.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN8EMmML-es
Evolution in Public Schools: In 2005, McCain said alternatives to evolution should be taught in school. “Evolving” the opposite position he had taken in 2000.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/12/mccain-creationism/
Restoring the Everglades: On June 5, John McCain traveled to the Everglades to win over Floridians and environmentally-minded voters. There he proclaimed, “I am in favor of doing whatever’s necessary to save the Everglades.” Sadly, as ThinkProgress documented, McCain not only opposed $2 billion in funding for the restoration of the Everglades national park, he backed President Bush’s veto of the legislation in 2007. “I believe,” he said, “that we should be passing a bill that will authorize legitimate, needed projects without sacrificing fiscal responsibility.”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…
Swiftboating: McCain’s sudden embrace of Swiftboating — which today is synonymous with a concerted effort to lie about an opponent’s history — is all the more deplorable because he has hired retired Col. George “Bud” Day, a proud member of the group that Swiftboated Kerry — and someone McCain once described as having “tunnel vision” — to lead what McCain is calling his “Truth Squad.”
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/John_McCain_flip_flops_on_Swift_Boaters
GITMO/Habeus Corpus:Despite John McCain’s outrage last week that the Supreme Court ordered Gitmo detainees know why they were being held, or released — Political Base has stumbled upon a McCain appearance on Meet the Press in 2005 where he argued they deserved trials, going so far as to say “if it means releasing some of them, you’ll have to release them.” Shameless.
http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/Mark%20Nickolas/blog/&blogId=2598
Divestment from South Africa: During his June 2 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), John McCain called for the international community to target Iran for the kind of worldwide sanctions regime applied to apartheid-era South Africa. Unfortunately, McCain’s lobbyist-advisers Charlie Black and Rick Davis each represented firms doing business with Tehran. Even more unfortunate, John McCain was frequently not among those offering “moral clarity and conviction” in backing “a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/04/mccain-divestment/
Opposing Hurricane Katrina Investigations: During a June 4th town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, John McCain answered a reporter’s question regarding Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the New Orleans levees by announcing:
“I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground.”
As it turns out, not so much. McCain’s revisionist history neglects to mention that in 2005 and 2006 he twice voted against a commission to study the government’s response to Katrina. He also opposed three separate emergency funding measures providing relief to Katrina victims, including the extension of five months of Medicaid benefits. And as ThinkProgress pointed out, “until traveling there one month ago, McCain had made just one public tour of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina touched down in August 2005.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/04/mccain-katrina/
McCain On His Economic Abilities: “I have not. I have not. Actually, I have not.” “I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military and others. I am very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent.”
— Sen. John McCain, in an interview on ABC News, when asked why he “admitted that you’re not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy.”
However, NBC News compiles past McCain quotes in which he said “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should” or “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/02/1179920.aspx
On Criticizing Obama While “Overseas”: Traveling in Colombia, he told reporters that he wouldn’t criticize Obama while he was overseas, but on the plane, he blasted Obama’s opposition to the proposed Colombia free trade…
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/mccain-in-colom.html
UPDATES from KOSsacks:
Temperment and Temper: “My temper has often been both a matter of public speculation and personal concern,” he wrote in a 2002 memoir. “I have a temper, to state the obvious, which I have tried to control with varying degrees of success because it does not always serve my interest or the public’s.” Not true and not under control, according to many of those on the “W”rong side of McCain’s famous temper.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/19/AR2008041902224.html
Drilling For Oil and Automobile Efficiency: “Last week, Senator McCain reversed himself and said we need to drill more. Today, he has reversed years of failing to support more efficient cars, new energy technologies and green jobs.
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1400
Offshore Drilling: Two weeks ago, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) offered “a bit of a capitulation to the oil companies” by announcing that he would end the federal ban on offshore oil drilling. Not only is McCain’s move a break with environmental activist, but it is also “a reversal of the position he took in his 2000 presidential campaign.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/17/mccain-flip-flops-on-offshore-drilling-moratorium/
Payroll Taxes: “When he was asked in 2005 whether he could see himself lifting the cap on the payroll tax, (McCain) said, ‘I could.’ Two years later, during a May 13, 2007, appearance on “Meet the Press,” Russert asked McCain if he was still open to lifting the Social Security tax cap as part of a compromise. “Am I opposed to tax increases?” said McCain. “Yes. But we’ve got to sit down together and figure out what our options are, and tough decisions have to be made, Republicans and Democrats. And I know how to do that.” Asked about the 2005 remark, a McCain spokesman acknowledged the tension with his current position while arguing that the Arizona senator’s criticism of his Democratic rival is still valid because McCain has spoken out against higher Social Security taxes as a 2008 White House hopeful.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/mccain-backtrac.html
Ethics Reform and Abramoff: On the stump, Sen. John McCain often cites his work tackling the excesses of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as evidence of his sturdy ethical compass. A little-known document, however, shows that McCain may have taken steps to protect his Republican colleagues from the scope of his investigation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/25/mccain-withheld-controver_n_88304.html
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/McCain_humps_for_Doolittle_Pombo_and_the_Abramoff_gang