McCain's Flip Flops (the definitive tally)

John McCain has had a bewildering array of positions, often on the same issues. This post will be regularly updated as new positions come to light. Keep checking back, and please e-mail us with tips (mccainisinsane at gmail dot com).

UPDATED 8/31/08


John McCain: "In all due respect to my colleagues, they’re drinking the Kool-Aid that somehow I have changed positions on the issues."

Torture

BEFORE

McCain 11/16/07: "One of the things that kept us going when I was in prison in North Vietnam was that we knew that if the situation were reversed, that we would not be doing to our captors what they were doing to us"

"I want to tell you. Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney all think it is O.K. They have one thing in common. They don’t understand the military and the culture of this nation. If they did, they could never condone such behavior." [NY Times]

AFTER

McCain votes against a ban on CIA torture. [NY Times]

Special Interests

BEFORE

McCain: "I'm the only one special interests don't give any money to." [YouTube]

AFTER

McCain's campaign manager and many key campaign officials are telecom lobbyists, who have given at least $765,000 to his campaign (and that's just one special interest) [USA Today]

Campaign Finance Laws

BEFORE

McCain author of McCain Feingold amendment, limiting use of soft money in campaigns. [Wikipedia]

AFTER

3/21/08: McCain likely in violation of campaign finance laws. [WashPost]

Jerry Falwell

BEFORE

McCain 2/28/2000: "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."

McCain 2/29/2000: calls Robertson and Falwell "agents of intolerance." [IHT]

AFTER

McCain gives commencement speech at Falwell's Liberty University, cozies up to Falwell. [ABC]

Iraq

BEFORE

McCain 9/29/02: “We’re not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we’re not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies.”

McCain 1/22/03: “But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” [ThinkProgress]

AFTER

McCain: 1/4/07: "When I voted to support this war, I knew it was probably going to be long and hard and tough, and those that voted for it and thought that somehow it was going to be some kind of an easy task, then I’m sorry they were mistaken. Maybe they didn’t know what they were voting for." [ThinkProgress]

Abortion

BEFORE

McCain 8/24/99: "But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." [WashPost]

AFTER

McCain 2/18/07: "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned" [MSNBC]

Bush's tax cuts

BEFORE

McCain 5/26/01: "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class Americans who most need tax relief." [McCain's Senate website]

AFTER

In 2006 McCain votes to extend Bush tax cuts [MediaMatters]

Ethanol [hat tip Carpetbagger]

BEFORE

McCain 11/03: "Ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn't create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it. Yet thanks to agricultural subsidies and ethanol producer subsidies, it is now a very big business - tens of billions of dollars that have enriched a handful of corporate interests - primarily one big corporation, ADM. Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality." [CNN]

AFTER

McCain 8/06: "I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects." [CNN]

Gay Marriage [hat tip anon]

Well, just watch:



Confederate Flag [hat tip The Real McCain]

BEFORE

McCain 1/12/00: "Personally, I see the flag as symbol of heritage."

AFTER

McCain 4/19/00: "I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary. So I chose to compromise my principles." [CNN]

Gun control

BEFORE

In 2001, McCain and Lieberman introduce legislation to regulate gun shows. [HuffPo]

AFTER

McCain 4/19/07: "I strongly support the Second Amendment and I believe the Second Amendment ought to be preserved, which means no gun control" [WashPost]

Moqtada al Sadr [hat tip Think Progress]

BEFORE

McCain week of 3/16/08: "His influence has been on the wane for a long time." [CNN via Think Progress]

AFTER

4/1/08: "I said he was still major player and his influence is going to have to be reduced and gradually eliminated." [CNN via Think Progress]

Housing Relief

BEFORE

March 2008: "It is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." [NY Times]

AFTER

4/11/08: "Let me make it clear, that in these challenging times, I am committed to using all the resources of this government and great nation to create opportunity and make sure that every deserving American has a good job and can achieve their American dream." [NY Times

The Press and Hillary

BEFORE

"The media often overlooked how compassionately [Hillary Clinton] spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans.”

AFTER

“I did not [say that]."

[Think Progress]

The Estate Tax

BEFORE

"I am concerned that repeal of the estate tax would provide massive benefits solely to the wealthiest and highest-income taxpayers in the country. A Treasury Department study found that almost no estate tax has been paid by lower- and middle-income taxpayers. But taxes have been paid on the estates of people who were in the highest 20% of the income distribution at the time of their death. It found that 91% of all estate taxes are paid by the estates of people whose annual income exceeded $190,000 around the time of their death."

AFTER

"Another of my disagreements with Senator Obama concerns the estate tax, which he proposes to increase to a top rate of 55 percent. The estate tax is one of the most unfair tax laws on the books, and the first step to reform is to keep it predictable and keep it low."

[Matthew Yglesias]

Wiretaps

BEFORE

"There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is."

AFTER

McCain spokesman: "Neither the administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the A.C.L.U. and trial lawyers, understand were constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,”

[NY Times]

Immigration Reform

#1

BEFORE

McCain introduces bill on immigration reform.

AFTER

January 30, 2008, when asked if he would vote for his own bill: ""No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the borders secured first.""

[MediaMatters]

#2

BEFORE

May 22, 2008: "[We must enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must make it a top agenda item if we don’t do it before, and we probably won’t, a little straight talk, as of January 2009."

AFTER

National Review: "Team McCain tells me the senator’s comments were poorly worded. There’s been no discussion within the campaign of altering their stance on illegal immigration, and as far as everyone on the campaign is concerned, the policy is still, ’secure the border first.’"

[Think Progress]

Offshore drilling

BEFORE

1999 campaign: McCain opposes offshore drilling

AFTER

McCain 6/15/08: ""There are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation, and I hope we can take the first step by lifting the moratoria."

[MotherJones]

Hurricane Katrina investigations

BEFORE

2006: McCain opposes commission to study government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

[LA Times]

AFTER

McCain 6/4/08: "I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy."

[Think Progress]

Guantanamo

BEFORE

2005: "I think, on balance, the argument has got to be--the weight of evidence has got to be that we've got to adjudicate these people's cases, and that means that if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them."

AFTER

Following 2008 Supreme Court Decision requiring trials for detainees: "One of the worst decisions in the history of this country"

[PoliticalBase]

Social Security Privatization

BEFORE

2004: "Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.”

3/3/2008: "“As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it — along the lines that President Bush proposed.”

AFTER

6/13/08: “I’m not for, quote, privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be.”

[Think Progress]

Minimum Wage

BEFORE

McCain votes against minimum wage increases 19 times.

AFTER

8/31/08: "I’m for the minimum wage increases when they are not attached to other big-spending pork barrel."

[Think Progress]