[Mb-civic] Want More Bush? Elect McCain By Helen Thomas

[Michael Butler]

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    Want More Bush? Elect McCain
    By Helen Thomas
    Hearst Newspapers

    Sunday 09 April 2006

    Washington - In his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination,
Sen. John McCain is moving to the right.

    The Arizona Republican, who failed to win the Republican presidential
nomination in 2000, is the most visible Republican on television, outside
the White House, and seems to never pass up an opportunity to appear on
Sunday talk shows.

    All this appears to be part of his effort to transform his image as a
maverick independent so that he can make his pitch to the conservative
Republican base that will vote in the party's primaries and caucuses two
years hence.

    McCain's focus is on Southern states where he will have to show his
dedication to the conservatives who dominate the GOP. He was scheduled to be
the main speaker at the Lincoln Day dinner in Lakeland, Fla., on Saturday.
Later this spring, he will deliver the commencement address at Liberty
University at Lynchburg, Va., the school founded by evangelical leader Jerry
Falwell.

    Falwell has indicated there are still some bridges to mend with McCain,
who had called Falwell "an agent of intolerance" in his first bid for the
presidency in 2000.

    Although Falwell has not endorsed McCain, he has said that the senator
"could be the GOP's best hope" if Sen. Hillary Clinton is nominated to head
the Democratic ticket in 2008.

    Falwell also says McCain is in the process of "healing the breach with
evangelical groups."

    Asked to explain his change of attitude toward the evangelist on "Meet
the Press" Sunday, McCain said: "I believe that the Christian right has a
major role to play in the Republican Party. One reason (that) is so is
because they're so active and their followers are. And I believe they have a
right to be part of our party."

    McCain also has gone out of his way to cozy up to President Bush after
their bitter rift in the 2000 presidential campaign. McCain has said he does
not look back in anger at old political battles. That's wise - he's going to
need Bush's backing in a presidential bid.

    McCain also has taken other stands that should put him in good with
Southern conservatives. Hailing from a military family - his father and
grandfather were admirals in the Navy - he is a strong supporter of the
invasion and occupation of Iraq and believes the number of US troops there
should be beefed up.

    He is against abortion rights and gun-control laws and believes students
should be taught the religion-oriented "intelligent design" theory of
creation as well as the theory of scientific evolution.

    His painful experience as a POW during the Vietnam War led him to buck
the White House on the question of using torture to interrogate detainees
and prisoners of war. Despite White House opposition, he triumphed with a
90-9 Senate vote on his anti-torture amendment to the defense appropriations
bill.

    Well, almost.

    In signing the bill, the president issued a statement that under his
constitutional authority as commander in chief, he did not have to abide by
the anti-torture amendment. This is a dubious claim of presidential power
that should be challenged.

    McCain's political record is not entirely pristine. He was a member of
the so-called Keating Five - five senators linked to Charles Keating in the
savings and loan scandals in 1991. But a special investigator found that
McCain had not been substantially involved in influence peddling but
criticized him and three others for "questionable conduct."

    That searing experience may explain why McCain has been an avid advocate
of campaign finance reform.

    With his "hail fellow well met" persona and tendency to jaw with the
media and pundits in the back of the campaign bus, he has created the
impression in some quarters that he is a "moderate."

    Forget it. His voting record speaks for itself.

    McCain is working hard to prove his staunch conservative credentials as
he woos the far right in his party.

    If he wins the presidency, the country can expect a continuation of
Bush's aggressive foreign policy and ultra-right domestic programs.