I Used to Heart John McCain

Facing up to the fact that my rebel with a cause is just a plain old conservative.

By Michelle Paladino, NYU

Like so many fair-minded progressives, I am a recovering fan of John “the Maverick” McCain. After all, he seems to be a politically transcending, plain-speaking, Vietnam-Veterans-for-Truth-bashing rebel. He sure is fun to watch, a media darling for good reason. When I see him on television, I have always been comforted by the belief that he’s telling the truth, especially when he uses his trademark bluntness. On top of it all, his war-time strength and perseverance in a Vietnamese POW camp is well-known and endows him with a certain gravitas.

I was certainly not alone in my admiration. During the 2000 primaries, even true-blue liberals couldn’t resist his apparent blend of straight talk, principles and toughness. I heard and still hear comments like “McCain’s not so bad” or “I kind of like the guy” from registered Democrats. People in the 18-29 age group helped McCain defeat Bush in the New Hampshire 2000 Republican primary. He appeals to college students with statements about his concern for “young people who are being turned off in droves” by special interests. He seems so honest, like a classic man-of-the-people fighting against those fat cats in Washington. What can I say? I love a rebel.

But, as with so many love affairs, the honeymoon phase ended with a loud fizzle. First, there was the fawning speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Next thing you know, he’s all over the news, shilling for President Bush’s Social Security plan. So, I decided it was high time to review my relationship with McCain. Instead of reviewing faded love letters tucked into a shoebox, I sifted through his congressional votes and campaign speeches. What I discovered is that he’s a rich-people’s-tax-slashing, Reagan worshipping, Social Security privatizing pro-lifer. He has shown a capability for bipartisanship, but when it comes to many of the central issues dividing left from right, he’s comfortably snuggled into a little conservative niche. Why did I like this guy again?

Reminiscent of Ronald

He shows his love of the dark side not only with his unrelenting support of national missile defense, a la Ronald “Star Wars” Reagan, but with his almost unadulterated passion for tax cuts for the wealthy. In fact, according to the National Taxpayer’s Union’s scorecard, which rates individual members of Congress on their support for tax cuts, over the years McCain has been a top-of-the-class student. In 1999 he had the dubious honor of being the #1 tax-slashing member of Congress – deficits be damned.

His denouncements of pork barrel projects and his calls for middle-class tax relief have endeared him to the public. However, he has spent an awful lot of time focusing on unburdening the wealthy with a repeal of the estate tax. One day, McCain would like to wake up to an America with a flat tax system. Reading about his Reaganesque visions of a flat tax utopia was a shock to my progressive heart and made me question my ability to judge character.

Don’t you get 10 points for spelling your name correctly?

In a rating system from an entirely different group, NARAL Pro-Choice America, McCain got a 0% pro-choice score. One could expect this from a true red conservative, but surely not from “the maverick.” Yet, indeed, he is outspokenly against a woman’s right to choose. In 1999, a campaign spokesman stated that McCain “has a 17-year voting record of supporting efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade. He does that currently, and will continue to do that as president.”

Hatin’ on Social Security since Back in the Day

Bush’s Social Security plan has drawn critics from both sides of the aisle with even some moderate Republicans coming down hard against the President’s cocktail of private accounts and benefit cuts. McCain is not in with this group of moderates and, in fact, has been a privatization promoter for years. He and Bush go way back in the scare tactic business, both letting loose with strings of frightening words like “insolvency” and “broke.” In a debate in 2000, McCain declared, “we got a ticking time bomb out there. And it’s called the Social Security Trust Fund. And starting in 2014 there’ll be more money going out than in.” New polls are indicating that the more people learn about Bush plan, the less they like it, but McCain has had a penchant for private accounts for years and doesn’t seem to be letting up the hard sell.

Comfortable at the Inauguration, not the Wedding

Part of the reason why independent voters love him and far-right conservatives fear him is his unpredictability and penchant for occasionally hopping from side to side on some issues. In a 1999 interview, McCain commented that he would be “comfortable with a homosexual as president of the United States.” Yet, if McCain were to have it his way, this hypothetical President would have to campaign as a swinging bachelor. Three years earlier, McCain voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as an act between a man and woman, leaving our fictitious homosexual President without a life partner to smile and wave at his side.

FYI: Duck = conservative

To be fair, McCain has never declared himself to be anything other than a conservative. There is no reason for me to be disappointed in him; he has not acted as a wolf in liberal clothing. His denouncement of the Vietnam Veterans for Truth was impressive; his bipartisan work on campaign finance reform was brave; and his occasional mouthing off is appealing. But, in keeping with the animal metaphors “if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck,” it’s probably not a maverick. So, progressives, spare yourself the disappointment and accept that though he may be better than Bush, but he’s still just a duck.

Illustration: Matt Bors