The Sad Case of Senator John McCain

Just as the nation is beginning to realize that we cannot trust George W. Bush and that the Republican leadership in Congress could care less about the average American, Senator McCain continues to go in deep with every group of Republicans Americans find themselves turning away from. McCain is even having trouble noticing the failures of his party and the growing number of scandals. If McCain is still a Republican maverick, he has a funny way of showing it. Jonathan Singer of Mydd has the story:

When I called John McCain "the quintessential cynical politician who will do anything to win an election" and Paul Krugman made a similar charge earlier this month, no doubt there were more than a few Beltway types who were shocked -- shocked -- that anyone would call into question their coronation of the Arizona Senator. After all, everyone knows that John McCain is a maverick who doesn't care about partisan politics, who subverts his own ambition to do what's right, right?

Just as McCain's embrace of President Bush in 2004 and his coddling of Jerry Falwell in recent months has begun to open up the eyes of the American people -- his lead over Hillary Rodham Clinton in a head-to-head matchup has been halved in recent months -- an interesting article by David D. Kirkpatrick in today's issue of The New York Times offers further proof of McCain's willingness to sell out his purported beliefs and, indeed, the American people in order to advance his ambitions.

Senator McCain's perceived honesty and independence is the only thing that ever made him interesting. But since his endorsement of Bush in 2004, he's been playing catch up with the current Republican style of doing business. It hasn't been a pretty sight to watch.