Will McCain Stay Bought?
The problem that the right-wing base of the Republican Party has with John McCain is not about whether he is conservative enough now. He’s always been pro-war and anti-abortion, and now he’s flippy-flopped and is toeing the party line on immigration and tax cuts as well.
About all he’s got left to do is renounce campaign finance reform and start supporting torture, and he’ll be in lockstep. And he’ll do it, too. Watch.
But conservatives don’t think McCain has the decency to *stay* bought and beholden to them. It was fine with them for G.W. Bush to talk about “compassionate conservatism” in 2000 because they knew he was winking and smirking and would never say or do anything about it again.
But McCain is going to have to suck up to the Right all the way to November or those people aren’t going to do their Get-Out-The-Vote Tricks. Some of them say they might even vote for Obama if he’s the Democratic nominee, which is one meme the talking heads apparently like. I file that one in my “When Pigs Fly” folder.
jss @ February 8, 2008
