Bemoaning McCain's Move to the "Dark Side"

Hard lefty Jonathan Chait of the Los Angeles Times expresses great sadness as he watched John McCain's move to the right in anticipation of the '08 campaign. In bemoaning the loss of McCain's support for things the left holds dear, he also aptly demonstrates why many conservatives are suspicious of the Arizona senator:

'THIS IS NOT Luke Skywalker here," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), discussing his friend and Senate colleague John McCain's second run for the presidency. "This is a totally different campaign."

Graham was looking for a way to reassure his fellow conservatives that they no longer had anything to fear from McCain. His choice of metaphor is one of those windows into the fundamental cultural gap that separates hard-core conservatives from the rest of humanity. To most people, who think of Luke Skywalker as a hero battling an evil and immensely powerful empire, Graham's implication would be seen as an unmitigated insult. In the world of the GOP elite, though, it's a form of praise: No, no, don't worry, McCain's with the empire now.

ADVERTISEMENTSeven years ago, of course, McCain was likening himself in public to Luke Skywalker, waving light sabers on stage at rallies and comparing his party's establishment to the Death Star. He would say such things as, "My party has become captive to special interests." He would cite a bumper sticker that read "The Christian Right Is Neither."

And now? Well, let's just say that if John McCain circa 2007 was campaigning against John McCain circa 2000, he would call him a communist. The old McCain called President Bush's tax cuts fiscally and socially irresponsible, a giveaway to the rich in a time of rising inequality. The new McCain was recently interviewed by National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and asked if there were any circumstances, including the guarantee of spending cuts, under which he'd consider repealing the tax cuts he denounced and voted against. He replied: "No. None. None. Tax cuts, starting with Kennedy, as we all know, increase revenues."

The tone of Chait's complaints show just how much a soul mate he felt McCain v.1 was, and his disappointment with McCain v.2 shows just how far the Senator has moved in an effort to appeal to the conservative primary base. The question is, should McCain be elected president (and event I think quite unlikely), will there be a v.3, will he continue in v.2 mode, or revert back to v.1? The difficult thing for GOP voters is that nobody really knows.