McCain v. McCain

The Jed Report offers up one of the more effective juxtapositions of McCain contradicting himself on his support and/or non-support of George W. Bush.

Increasingly, it seems to depend on the day, time and location of when and to whom McCain is speaking whether he’s been a loyal supporter of Bush’s most salient (“transcendent”) policies, or instead, has been a renegade “maverick” bucking the administration on key issues. It’s a bit of a no-win situation for him — on the one hand he needs to court the pro-Bush “conservative” base of the GOP by demonstrating his past allegiance, while at the same time distancing himself sufficiently to attract independents and Republicans disaffected by the current regime. It’s doubtful whether McCain is acrobatically supple enough to achieve that political balancing act over time.