McCain: a bitter ideologue and partisan hack?

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Yes Virginia, There was a Time When John McCain Was Admirable
By Joe Gandelman | December 21st, 2010

[snipped]

The John McCain of 2000 would never support or respect the 2010 talk radio radio political culture incarnation of John McCain. He would consider today’s McCain a bitter ideologue and partisan hack seemingly motivated out of a desire to “get even” with groups who were once part of his supporting coalition – a man with a sour grapes attitude bordering on contempt for the man who defeated him in his bid for President. Today’s McCain seems to be frantically trying to repudiate past positions that once seemed genuinely heartfelt. If McCain’s image had to go up today on Mount Rushmore they’d need two faces.

The question is: was 2000 all an act? It’s a question still being debated.

Virginia, tell your little friends that some people say John McCain was a political “maverick” but it is now clear that he has turned out to be political Edsel.
[snipped]

The 2000 McCain was a uniter because virtually all Americans respected his life’s narrative and courage and sincerity even if they disagreed with his politics. Today’s McCain is also a uniter: almost no one totally trusts him anymore.

So yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.

But, no, Virginia: there is no more 2000 John McCain.

And perhaps, some of us now think, maybe there never really was.

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