Allison Good Columnist

Believe it or not, those more familiar with John McCain’s history are now calling him a turncoat. This presidential candidate used to be the most liberal Republican out there. A self-proclaimed “maverick,” McCain showed a certain promise that reinforced hope for GOP reform and a new kind of Republican.

Once the War in Iraq cemented the irreparable division between the parties, McCain began to spar with Bush on the issues that were thought to unite the Republican party. He was one politician who still believed in the promise of bipartisan compromise that had previously been popular in Congress.

Rumors spread that he would leave the GOP, and no one could label his politics. Then, he decided to have a second try at the presidency, a decision that changed everything, in a real sense. His campaign ethics do not match his previous track record, and his proposed policies are more like those of President George W. Bush than those of the McCain of old. The Keating Five was quite the scandal in the 1980s, but McCain’s worst crime to date is that he has sacrificed many of his ideas for the sake of winning in November.

First elected to the Senate in 1987, McCain quickly acquired a long list of credentials. Instead of limiting himself to his party, he worked with Democrats on important issues such as campaign finance reform. In 1995, McCain and Democrat Russ Feingold co-authored a bill that would limit political donations from big business, but it never passed.

In the 2000 election, McCain officially endorsed Bush after his own presidential campaign failed. However, this seemingly amicable relationship soon turned rocky. He opposed the first two rounds of Bush tax cuts, one of only a handful of Republicans to do so. McCain justly believed that these tax reforms were a give-away to the rich and that the money should be distributed more fairly.

During the Bush presidency, McCain opposed the administration’s position on both foreign policy and domestic issues. Even though McCain had voted for the War in Iraq, he soon lost faith in Bush’s closest ally, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who eventually resigned.

Understanding the need for environmental reform, he criticized Bush in for blocking the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. In 2005, McCain successfully introduced a bill that prohibited the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war by limiting interrogations to only those techniques set forth in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Interrogation.

Once he realized that things were going sour in Iraq, the Senator began to question the Bush administration’s portrayal of the war and criticized it for making false statements about “progress.” A supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, he worked with Senator Ted Kennedy on the issue, but their proposed legislation never made it to the Senate floor.

Immigration reform, criticism on the War in Iraq and opposition to the Bush tax cuts were all unpopular positions among Republicans, but McCain never let unpopularity prevent him from being a sound lawmaker.

Fast forward to Election 2008. It’s still early, but McCain needs all the support he can get to clinch the nomination. His strategy? He turns an enemy into a friend, wooing ultra-conservative Christians everywhere. In his 2000 presidential bid, he had called Reverend Jerry Falwell divisive and intolerant. However, McCain decided in 2006 decided that Falwell was no longer harmful and delivered the commencement address at Liberty University, an evangelical university founded by Falwell himself in 1971. Though this is perhaps the right tactic for winning over the far-right voters, it is not a good way to appear committed to your convictions.

And what about his campaign? How does it run? You may be surprised to know that it is the exact opposite of the model he established in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Instead, as The Washington Post wrote on Dec. 31, 2007, McCain has chosen to “court big money” and counts several corporations, their “wealthy clients” and even more lobbyists among his campaign donors. This is a far cry from the days when he denounced the role of big business and special interest in political campaigns. Whether McCain is a hypocrite is a question to be decided by the informed voter, but his proposed policies only emphasize this characterization.

McCain has certainly adopted the Bush tax outlook, and proposes a 10 percent cut in the corporate tax rate. The ironic thing is that this is exactly what he voted against in 2001. However, according to his campaign Web site, johnmccain.com, “Entrepreneurs should not be taxed into submission.” Now that is quite a turnaround.

He also skirts the global warming issue on his Web site; the section devoted to environmental issues is disturbingly short and vague, and there is no remnant of the pro-Kyoto Protocol John McCain.

Whatever the case may be, it is safe to say that McCain has officially shed the maverick skin he once cherished and valued. Any candidate running for a political office must make some sacrifices in order to achieve his or her goal of being elected, but McCain has sacrificed his whole self.

The November popular vote is crucial to the continuation of the conservative dynasty, and McCain has unfortunately succumbed to some down-and-dirty tactics that his earlier self would have opposed.

He is now a full-fledged Bush-bot, and the only difference between McCain and Bush seems to be their ages and how they pronounce “nuclear.” To Republicans, he is the answer both to their problems and to America’s larger quandries, but hopefully voters will realize that he is just a crowd pleaser.

—Allison Good ’11 is writing a weekly column about American politics, focusing on the 2008 presidential election and the primary process.