Democrats Say McCain Nearly Abandoned GOP

[Pale Rider]

Democrats Say McCain Nearly Abandoned GOP

by
Bob Cusack
As published at TheHill.com

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (VT) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.

In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-NY) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain's chief political strategist.

Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain's case, they said, it was McCain's top strategist who came to them.

At the end of their March 31, 2001 lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Bethesda, MD, Downey said Weaver asked why Democrats hadn't asked McCain to switch parties.

Read the whole article here...

[stephanie]

Who do the Democrats have.... that we could trade McCain out for..??

He's been more like a Democrat as it is...except on the war effort and the military..

[PostmodernProphet]

and, as I recall, he did NOT leave.....and as I further recall, he was a strong supporter of the current Republican administration for the last seven years.......

[red states rule]

and, as I recall, he did NOT leave.....and as I further recall, he was a strong supporter of the current Republican administration for the last seven years.......

Strong supporter of Pres Bush? With amnesity and the war yes - other then those, I think not


snip


McCain-Feingold - the most brazen frontal assault on political speech since Buckley v. Valeo.
McCain-Kennedy — the most far-reaching amnesty program in American history.
McCain-Lieberman — the most onerous and intrusive attack on American industry — through reporting, regulating, and taxing authority of greenhouse gases — in American history.
McCain-Kennedy-Edwards — the biggest boon to the trial bar since the tobacco settlement, under the rubric of a patients’ bill of rights.
McCain-Reimportantion of Drugs — a significant blow to pharmaceutical research and development, not to mention consumer safety (hey Rudy, pay attention, see link).
And McCain’s stated opposition to the Bush 2001 and 2003 tax cuts was largely based on socialist, class-warfare rhetoric — tax cuts for the rich, not for the middle class. The public record is full of these statements. Today, he recalls only his insistence on accompanying spending cuts.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, McCain was consistently hostile to American enterprise, from media and pharmaceutical companies to technology and energy companies.
McCain also led the Gang of 14, which prevented the Republican leadership in the Senate from mounting a rule change that would have ended the systematic use (actual and threatened) of the filibuster to prevent majority approval of judicial nominees.
And then there’s the McCain defense record.
His supporters point to essentially one policy strength, McCain’s early support for a surge and counterinsurgency. It has now evolved into McCain taking credit for forcing the president to adopt General David Petreaus’s strategy. Where’s the evidence to support such a claim?
Moreover, Iraq is an important battle in our war against the Islamo-fascist threat. But the war is a global war, and it most certainly includes the continental United States, which, after all, was struck on 9/11. How does McCain fare in that regard?
McCain-ACLU — the unprecedented granting of due-process rights to unlawful enemy combatants (terrorists).
McCain has repeatedly called for the immediate closing of Guantanamo Bay and the introduction of al-Qaeda terrorists into our own prisons — despite the legal rights they would immediately gain and the burdens of managing such a dangerous population.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...Y5NTZiOGNhOGQ=

[PostmodernProphet]

Strong supporter of Pres Bush? With amnesity and the war yes - other then those, I think not

no you don't......

[red states rule]

no you don't......

Wow, you really countered the examples of McCain opposing the administration that I posted

[Pale Rider]

Wow, you really countered the examples of McCain opposing the administration that I posted

McCain is enjoying his bubble mainly because people aren't truly educated as to what kind of a damn liberal loving scum bag he really is.

[5stringJeff]

McCain is a RINO, plain and simple.

[Dilloduck]

McCain is a RINO, plain and simple.

As is Ron Paul.

[5stringJeff]

As is Ron Paul.

Please explain that one. Just because he's against the Iraq War doesn't make him a RINO.

[Dilloduck]

Please explain that one. Just because he's against the Iraq War doesn't make him a RINO.

He might be conservative but he's a libertarian through and through. To this day I think he switched to the republican party for the bennies.

[5stringJeff]

He might be conservative but he's a libertarian through and through. To this day I think he switched to the republican party for the bennies.

In my view, a small-government conservative is partially libertarian. Regardless, I'd rather have a libertarian RINO than a liberal RINO.

[manu1959]

i would like to know who thinks the GOP has been on the right track.....thought not.....can you blame him for wanting to bail.....

[avatar4321]

i would like to know who thinks the GOP has been on the right track.....thought not.....can you blame him for wanting to bail.....

McCain is one of the very reasons the GOP has been on the wrong track. I might not be able to blame him for wanting to bail, but I can blame him for wanting to bail because of the problems he caused.

[retiredman]

IMHO, years from now, the Bush administration will be remembered nearly entirely for the war in Iraq...and years from now, McCain will be remembered as one of the administration's strongest supporters on that singular defining issue.