Boston Globe editorial: McCain's expediency express

April 13, 2008

THE CORE of John McCain's appeal as a candidate has always been his reputation for taking positions that offend special interests. This newspaper endorsed McCain in the Republican presidential primary late last year because - to quote ourselves - he "actually levels with voters even at significant political expense." But as his quixotic candidacy grew into the Republican nomination, McCain's "straight-talk express" started going off the rails.

In 2001, McCain criticized President Bush's tax cuts with their lopsided tilt to the rich. More recently, he has called for extending them. The author of an amendment in 2006 banning torture by US officials, this year he backed Bush's veto of legislation banning torture by US intelligence agencies. The onetime proponent of comprehensive immigration reform now goes along with strictly punitive approaches. In 1998, McCain called for a $1.10 increase in the tax on cigarettes. Last year, he opposed a 61-cent increase in that tax.

The flip-flop on the tobacco tax is typical of the Arizona senator's willingness to trim his sails. In 1998, McCain was such a supporter of raising the tobacco tax to fund a campaign to reduce smoking by youths that industry advertisements blasted the measure as the "McCain Tobacco Tax Bill." McCain accused the tobacco companies of having "sacrificed the truth and our children to their greed." The industry managed eventually to kill the bill when backers failed to get enough Senate support to block a filibuster.

Children would also have been the beneficiaries of last year's smaller hike in the tax: it was to support a major expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both favor the increase.

Asked last fall why he opposed the 61-cent tax hike, McCain suggested the government should not rely for children's health funding on an activity - smoking - that it hopes to discourage. He did not even acknowledge that the bigger tax itself would help to curb tobacco use. A true straight-talker would have simply admitted that in Republican primaries he did not want to be in the position of supporting a tax increase of any kind. Back in his 2000 presidential campaign, his advocacy of the bigger tobacco tax hike hurt him in the South Carolina primary, which George Bush won after McCain had handily defeated Bush in New Hampshire.

Taking positions with an eye toward Republican voters explains why McCain now backs the Bush tax cuts he once opposed, no longer favors sweeping immigration reform, and supported a Bush veto of the bill banning torture by intelligence agencies. The maverick has had a makeover.

(The article is here.)