What Does McCain Truly Believe?

Experience and new information evolve our system of beliefs and values...it's called maturity. However, it's normally a gradual process. For example, when Joe Biden was asked "Do you believe gay marriage is inevitable?" in November of 2003 and then again on Meet the Press in 2007, he changed his stance from opposition in 1995 to accepting the inevitability of gay marriage in the near future and the realization that his former belief was discriminatory.

"I don't think the government can dictate the definition of marriage to religious institutions. But government does have an obligation to guarantee that every individual is free of discrimination. And there's a distinction. I think government should not be able to dictate to religions the definition of marriage, but on a civil side, government has the obligation to strip away every vestige of discrimination as to what individuals are able to do in terms of their personal conduct.

Joe Biden understands that a system of beliefs emerges gradually and that America's maturation process must go through growth pains before it arrive as also stated back in November of 2003...

"...getting there will be an incredibly difficult thing for America to grapple with. It's going to be something we have to go through as part of the maturation process of the nation."

John McCain, on the other hand, has flip-flopped his belief system from a moderate, almost "liberal" Republican to a neo-conservative in a very short period of time. What's the explanation?

For instance, in October of 2000, Democratic President Bill Clinton vetoed a $400 billion tax cut as too deep and irresponsible saying it would jeopardize our surplus. Less than one year later, prior to 9/11, in the spring of 2001, John McCain and Lincoln Chafee were the only two Republican Senators to vote against a $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax cut, requested by the Bush Administration. Now, John McCain says he supports it. Why? Back in 2004 Joshua Green wrote the following:

In fact, the best Democrat may be someone who's no Democrat at all: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). As a war hero who's hawkish on foreign policy, he more than matches Bush on the military front. As a reform-minded foe of corporate welfare, Big Tobacco, and the Republican right, he is peerless. McCain is Bush's most vociferous critic, voted against the president's tax cut, forced his hand on campaign finance reform, and federalized airport security in the face of White House opposition. He has co-sponsored numerous bills with Democrats--many of them in the presidential-aspirant class--requiring backgraound checks at gun shows (Lieberman), a patients' bill of rights (Edwards), better fuel-efficiency standards in cars and SUVs (Kerry), and expanded national service programs (Bayh). He is even drafting a bill with Lieberman to reduce greenhouse gasses and mitigate global warming. As Ronald Brownstein remarked recently in the Los Angeles Times, "[McCain] has become the most hyphenated name in Washington." -- Joshua Green

What about his rock solid stance on torture? As this Time article reports, McCain did not flip flop as much as he backed off in order to avoid more confrontation with the White House. Is that what he is doing? Is he toning down his maverick image to win the White House? Or has he sold out? Or did he have suffer some sort of mini stroke?

John McCain may very well be taking a page from the "Compassionate Conservative" manual on how to get elected. Tell the neocons what they want to hear and then, once in office, do exactly the opposite. Whatever the case, we can't afford to wait and take a chance. We need to know exactly where John McCain stands before we cast our vote.