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Carpetbagger Report: The Official List of McCain Flip-Flops
UPDATE: Steve's list has become so popular, he's made it a feature on his blog which will be maintained and updated so use this link for the up-to-date version.
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Steve Benen of the Carpetbagger Report and his readers have provided us with a definitive list of McCain's flip-flops and it's a pretty thorough job with 62 items divided by policy category for easy reference.
As the self-designated keeper of the Official List of McCain Flip-Flops, I'm pleased to report, thanks to reader contributions, we now have a whopping 62 policy reversals from the Republican nominee. If McCain wants to argue that flip-flops are an example of a political leader who can't be trusted to keep his work or honor his commitments, McCain might as well drop out of the race now.
Here's the first 15 on The Carpetbagger's McCain Flip-Flops list:
National Security Policy
1. McCain thought Bush's warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
2. McCain insisted that everyone, even "terrible killers," "the worst kind of scum of humanity," and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, "deserve to have some adjudication of their cases," even if that means "releasing some of them." McCain now believes the opposite.
3. He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country."
4. In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
5. McCain was for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before he was against it.
6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani mountains with predators, McCain criticized him for it. He's since come to the opposite conclusion.
Foreign Policy
7. McCain was for kicking Russia out of the G8 before he was against it.
8. McCain supported moving "towards normalization of relations" with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
9. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
10. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
11. McCain is both for and against a "rogue state rollback" as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
12. McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty's behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
13. McCain was against divestment from South Africa before he was for it.
Military Policy
14. McCain recently claimed that he was the "greatest critic" of Rumsfeld's failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as "a mission accomplished." In March 2004, he said, "I'm confident we're on the right course." In December 2005, he said, "Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course."
15. McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions, concluding, on multiple occasions, that a Korea-like presence is both a good and a bad idea.
Check out the rest of the list and post any needed additions you may identify at The Carpetbagger Report. I'm sure Steve will appreciate the help.
