There are moments when I ask myself WTF happened to John McCain. In 2000, I and many other rational people supported McCain's presidential bid. Ten years later, McCain is becoming a caricature and one can wonder what posterity will think of the man. If selecting the utter unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008 wasn't enough to tarnish his name likely forever, perhaps the final nail in that coffin will be his reported willingness to work with a registered anti-gay hate group whose leader has past ties with white supremacy groups. Back in 200, McCain condemned the hate merchants of the Christian Right. These highlights from a CNN transcript while McCain was in Virginia Beach demonstrate the McCain of 2000:*
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we want to take you on CNN to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where Senator John McCain is addressing a crowd there. He plans to blast televangelist Pat Robertson for some phone calls that he had put together in this campaign thus far.
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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative, an advocate of a strong defense, and yet Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate. They distort my pro- life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters. Why? Because I don't pander to them, because I don't ascribe to their failed philosophy that money is our message.
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I recognize and celebrate that our country is founded upon Judeo- Christian values, and I have pledged my life to defend America and all her values, the values that have made us the noblest experiment in history. But public -- but political intolerance by any political party is neither a Judeo-Christian nor an American value. The political tactics of division and slander are not our values, they are... They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.
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Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.
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That was the John McCain of 2000. Now, whether due to senility, bitterness arising from his self-inflicted loss in 2008 by selecting Palin, or something else, McCain has become someone foul. The evidence? These highlights (which take a cheap shot at Lady Gaga) from the hate group Family Research Council website:
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FRC, . . . we'll be spending the next couple of weeks reassessing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" debate. In fact, I've already been in conversations with Hill leaders about holding hearings in the New Year, as well as statutory and legislative oversight steps that can be taken to turn back aspects of the repeal and slow down--if not stop--the rest. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others will be working with FRC to put a strict evaluation process in place. We want to ensure that the Pentagon is monitoring the effect of this radical change on the men and women in harm's way. One way to do that is demanding specific measurables--like tracking the sexual assaults, dips in recruitment and retention, combat distractions, and more. If there's the slightest disruption to the military's mission, you can bet that FRC will be on the Hill, demanding to revisit this repeal. And unlike the Senate Majority Leader, we won't consult Lady Gaga first.
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John McCain, I am ashamed that I ever thought well of you. I obviously did not understand your true bigotry.
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