Defending McCain

Let’s set the record straight. I have defended John McCain so much in this space I have been accused, many times, of working for his campaign. I went back to see when and why I have praised or defended McCain in the 2008 race and I offer up the evidence here:

1) 3/8/07 — McCain took blame, as a member of the Senate Armed Services committee, for the horrific conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical center.

2) 4/9/07 — McCain was showing his trademark tenacity in the face of sinking in polls and money and I said he could still be the last man standing.

3) 4/17/07 — McCain gave a speech criticizing the government’s failure to properly care for its citizens after Hurricane Katrina.

4) 5/16/07 — McCain defended his position on Iraq at a GOP debate and insisted he would be “the last man standing” if necessary in his defense of the surge strategy. He also said he intended to lead, to work on “the hard things and not the easy things.”

5) 6/18/07 — Desperate for cash, I noted that with his leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Armed Services committee that McCain could have been drowning in donations from the military and telecommunications industries but had made them both mad and had not received great sums from either.

6) 6/28/07 — McCain was getting pummeled on immigration reform but was standing his ground. His top adviser, Mark Salter, said at the time his boss was “a problem solver, not a panderer.”

7) 7/11/07 — When left for dead with staff departing and the money all gone, I praised McCain’s many strengths which — at the time — did not appear likely to win him the presidency.

8) 9/11/07 — McCain had a great debate performance.

This year, in 2008, I also defended and complimented McCain, roughly seven times for being himself, for inviting Barack Obama to do town halls with him, for speaking before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for his energy plans, for his performance at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church forum in August.

There will be more times in the future when I rise to McCain’s defense or praise his actions, I am sure. But this week I wrote a column about McCain’s disappointing turn and his new stomach for lies. McCain has built his entire identity on Straight Talk and has worn his willingness to tell the truth as a badge of honor. It is his brand, but it isn’t all its chalked up to be. It is helpful to recall McCain’s penitence after he lied about the confederate flag in South Carolina in the 2000 race. He sounded so genuinely sorry. We don’t know if McCain will be sorry again, for taking the low road he swore off, but if the apology comes I doubt many will believe it.

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