RUSSERT: But, Senator, when you were on here in 2000, I asked you about Jerry Falwell, and this is what you said:

MCCAIN (clip, 3/5/00): Gov. Bush swung far to the right and sought out the base support of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Those aren’t the ideas that I think are good for the Republican Party.

RUSSERT: Do you think that Jerry Falwell’s ideas are now good for the Republican Party?

MCCAIN: I believe that the “Christian Right” has a major role to play in the Republican Party. One reason is because they’re so active and their followers are. And I believe they have a right to be a part of our party. I don’t have to agree with everything they stand for, nor do I have to agree with everything that’s on the liberal side of the Republican Party. If we have to agree on every issue, we’re not a Republican Party. I believe in open and honest debate. Was I unhappy in the year 2000 that I lost the primary and there were some attacks on me that I thought was unfair? Of course. Should I get over it? Should I serve — can I serve the people of Arizona best by looking back in anger or moving forward?

RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?

MCCAIN: No, I don’t. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain how his views on this program when you have him on.

I was a McCain supporter, even though he is certainly more conservative than most liberals realize. But embracing Falwell (and Falwell isn't the one who's changed here) bodes ill.

I admired McCain even when I disagreed with him on the issues because I thought he was honest and a man of principles, and sometimes that is more important than ideology. (It's one of the reasons I don't support Hillary Clinton). However, his advisors have apparently told him "if you want to win the nomination, you have to suck up to the right wing" and he has backpedaled a lot from earlier positions lately in an attempt to do so.

He may gain the nomination, but he'll lose many of the moderates who supported him because they thought him honest and above petty politics.

yeah, its stuff like this that throws my potential vote for him out the window.

From Daily Kos:

I'm not sure whether it was because Tim Russert's questions were so good or because John McCain's answers were so woefully strained, but the otherwise insufferable Meet the Press this morning actually proved to be compelling--and telling--television.

Russert's "gotcha" journalism works well against the chameleon politics of McCain. In challenging McCain on everything from Bush hugs & kisses to the role of the religious right, Russert gave McCain no quarter as he used that tactic rarely used in interviews today: the follow-up.

On Iraq, McCain refused to call out the administration on its dangerous incompetence. He stated that Saddam "absolutely" possed a threat before the invasion (regardless of the whole no WMD thing). He admitted mistakes were made, but refused to blame those mistakes on the Commander-in-Chief. On the Iran front, he "applauds" the President's handling of the issue and expressed confidence that the administration will exhaust diplomatic efforts before engaging Iran militarily. This after he said we should learn from our mistakes in Iraq.

The administration love continued as McCain stated--with straight face--that "Nobody knows more about [immigration] than President Bush." When confronted as being a "born-again Bushophile" and "a maverick no more", he dismissed the criticism with the usual "looking forward" and doing the right thing spin.

Perhaps the silliest part of the interview came when McCain was confronted with his vote to extend Bush's disastrous tax cuts. This after he initially voted against them. McCain's explanation for his flip-flop: "I do not believe in tax increases." So, any tax cut should be de facto permanent according to his philosophy. Pure silliness.

I have to commend Russert for confronting McCain about his decision to speak at Liberty University and his acceptance of Jerry Falwell (maybe he does read Daily Kos after all!) Confronted him with an outrageous Falwell quote, Russert asked if McCain is "embracing" Falwell's statements. McCain again gave a non-answer, but he did say he does not believe Falwell is an "agent of intolerance" anymore. In a telling exchange, he said that the "christian right" has a major role to play in the Republican Party.

What we saw in that interview was the death of McCain the Maverick, and the birth of McCain the Chameleon. If there was any doubt that McCain is--with his eye on a presidential bid--a politician to the core, this interview should snuff that doubt out. Flapping about like a fish out of water, McCain showed America that he will sacrifice his principles to pander to the religious right, and that he will do anything to remain in good favor with the President. He wants the 2008 nomination--badly. But with interviews like this, the Presidency is slipping further and further away from his grasp.

America takes politics too seriously and personally.

I would have voted for him last time, had he made it through the primary. But that's just it. He wouldn't have, couldn't have made it through precisely for the reasons I would have voted for him.

And now that he's doing what it takes to win a primary, he becomes completely non-appealing as a general election candidate.

Tim Russert is known for being extra kind to his conservative guests, so why would Tim suddenly get tough on conservative McCain? I don't think it's because Tim suddenly decided to be a real journalist. I think that the White House ordered Russert to throw McCain under the bus so that Bush's chosen successors like Frist or Allen or Brownback have a better shot in 2008.



My tax money pays for the war in Iraq. That is serious. And there are over 2300 young Americans who took it VERY personally.

Are you saying that Meet the Press is controlled by the White House?

Every other discussion in this thread aside, just refering to this one...

I can't feel really sorry for those 2,300, considering they went to army voluntarily. It is not like they were drafted.

Eh, I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.

Well you can't expect to make statements like these and not be called on them.

McCain said what he said; if it wasn't Russert, it would've been somebody else to ask him that question.