As with all of the major candidates, my evaluation of John McCain simmered in the back of my mind for a long time. The roller-coaster of my feelings about his candidacy was hardly unusual. I have long liked the fact that McCain seems to be functionally independent of his party affiliation. As the campaign season matured I was disappointed to see more positions which seemed calculated to appeal to the base rather than driven by independent common sense. I have come to the conclusion now that my disappointment was driven by personal disagreement with the positions.
I believe that McCain chooses his positions based on personal conviction even when they are unpopular. There is a consistency in his message between those things that appear to be party-driven and those things that appear more independent. I think that it is his party that has walked a crooked line while McCain was holding fast to his personal convictions.
Seeing that, it became easy for me to endorse John McCain for President.
I was very enthusiastic about McCain for President in 2000. But now McCain is too old to be in the White House– older than Reagan, who was too also old. McCain has utterly abandoned all his principles in support of Bush– even voting for the Military Commissions Act last October, which legalized torture. And McCain is dead wrong on the occupation of Iraq– it seems like he’s re-fighting the Vietnam War in his mind.
Those were some of the same worries that I entertained before deciding that he still deserved to be endorsed. I don’t think he abandoned his principles so much as he started to emphasize the ones he thought would appeal to “the base.”
I didn’t realize his vote on the legalization of torture – which I think is absolutely wrong for our government to authorize in any form.