Listening to McCain’s speech tonight, I thought back to when I was a big McCain supporter during the 2000 primary season, when John McCain was running against governor Bush.
Eight years ago, McCain’s policies and his independent nature inspired me to donate to his campaign. Its was my first political donation. Sadly, John McCain lost the primary, thanks to Karl Rove’s dirty politics, and the country has been going downhill since the day Bush took office.
As I listened to his speech, I’m struck by the contrasts of McCain in 2000 vs. McCain in 2008.
John McCain 2000
- Generally told it to you straight, spoke freely with the press, and avoided being handled by spin doctors.
- Refused to campaign based on his Vietnam experience, barely mentioned it, and discouraged discussion of it during interviews.
- Despised the hatred and intolerance pushed by the religious right.
- Fought for getting big money out of politics
- Despised soft money and lobbyists
- A True friend of the environment, pushed for global warming efforts and was against expanded drilling.
- While not a pacifist, he was generally anti-war, and discouraged nation building.
John McCain 2008
- Completely filtered and scripted, taking a page from the Rove playbook.
- Milks his Vietnam experience in an intolerable fashion, pushing his bio, ala John Kerry.
- Courts the religious right fanatics with his VP pick, panders to people like Falwell.
- Gladly influenced by big donors and corporations.
- Has a campaign run by lobbyists
- Pushes oil drilling, and barely mentions a peep about environmental issues.
- Pushes war and fear, and continues to defend his foolish pro Iraq war position.
The John McCain running for president today is a shell of the man who ran in 2000. Its quite sad, because if McCain became president in 2000, the United States would have been much better off. Sadly, the 2008 McCain is a continuation of the Bush administration.