McCain full of convictions and contradictions

John McCain has been called a "maverick" Republican for so long that most Americans started taking his independence for granted a long time ago.

His public persona as a straight-talking, pork-busting, politically centrist war hero - firmly established during his upstart 2000 presidential run against GOP front-runner George W. Bush - is one of the greatest assets for this year's presumptive Republican nominee.

But a look back at McCain's 25-year political career in Arizona and on the national stage reveals a unique figure far more complicated than either his campaign's marketing machine or hostile Democratic Party operatives will admit.

He has demonstrated a repeated willingness to buck fellow Republicans and stray from GOP orthodoxy since he first ran for Congress in 1982. He also has a record of heartily supporting Bush on some of his most controversial priorities, including the Iraq war and comprehensive immigration reform. In 2007, as he ramped up for his second White House run, McCain voted with Bush 95 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly, which tallied votes McCain was present for on issues in which the administration took a position.

There is political value in maverickism. Presidential candidates rarely present themselves as strict party people as they court middle-of-the-road voters during the general-election season. And the notion of rugged individualism is still ingrained in the American psyche.

Still, a maverick is sometimes hard to define and, in politics, the free spirits are often the most inconsistent.

Over the years, McCain has given the opposition ammunition: The Democratic National Committee issues regular "McCain Myth Buster" news releases accusing McCain of "walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced."

McCain campaign insiders don't seem worried.

"It's a natural thing for the Democrats to go right at the McCain brand, his independence and reputation for doing what he thinks is right, regardless of his political interest or self-interest," said Charlie Black, a senior McCain campaign adviser. "That is a big part about what people know and like about him. We'll just keep reinforcing his record and who he is, and I doubt seriously they can put a dent in the brand."

Is McCain a 'maverick'?

McCain has bucked the party line often enough to be able to lay claim to the "maverick" moniker, even if his overall record is more complex:



 In 2001, he was one of only two Republicans to vote against Bush's signature tax-relief program. The other was then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., one of the Senate's most unabashedly liberal GOP members. But today, McCain supports making the tax cuts permanent because letting them lapse is tantamount to a tax increase.



 He is eager to work with Capitol Hill Democrats on topics such as immigration and climate change but has a history of clashing heatedly with Senate colleagues in both parties.



 He delivered in February 2000 a blistering critique of religious conservative leadership, which included blasting Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance." Yet in 2006, he delivered the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University.

So is McCain truly a "maverick"?

"It's part of who he is, but that's not him in his entirety," said Dan Schnur, who was communications director for McCain's 2000 presidential campaign but is not affiliated with his current bid. "There are some parts of him that are very conventional, conservative Republican. And there are other parts of him that are much more independent and iconoclastic."

McCain recently quipped that he prefers the term "Great American" to the overworn "maverick" label. But he also signaled that he does not intend to run as a typical partisan in the Nov. 4 general election.

"When you look at my great hero, (progressive GOP President) Theodore Roosevelt, I think many viewed him in those days as not a stereotype Republican," McCain said. "So I don't know if you would call it a 'maverick,' but I certainly have issues that I think can attract independents. I think we can find the old Reagan Democrats and a lot of new Reagan Democrats so that we can unite the party and reach out and win an election in November."

Asked to elaborate on that strategy, McCain said: "I think my positions on the issues are very well-known, and some of them, obviously, are not always in keeping with some members of my party, such as earmarking and pork-barrel spending."

McCain has long fought the congressional practice of funneling money toward parochial projects in the home states or districts of influential lawmakers, saying it leads to waste and corruption. The stand often has found him at odds with GOP colleagues.

Matt Welch is the editor in chief of the libertarian magazine Reason and the author of a critical look at the senator from Arizona titled McCain: The Myth of a Maverick. The 2007 book's title notwithstanding, Welch acknowledged that McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has demonstrated "maverick-y" behavior ever since he was "the class pop-off" and "a funny kind of punk kid who was getting in fights."

McCain's military background has a lot to do with his political independence. Unlike many Republican leaders and activists, McCain did not rise from the conservative movement. In fact, many of the patriotic values that McCain commonly espouses from the campaign stump are nonpartisan, such as duty, honor, courage and service.

"In one sense there's a sense of structural 'maverick-ness' in general with any politician who comes after a career in the military," Welch said, citing Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., as another example. "They tend to have a country-first, political-party-second type of approach. They're going to sound a little different from your average politician and maybe say things that sort of outrage their own party more because they're less grounded in philosophy."

McCain and Udall

Not long after his first election to Congress in 1982, McCain's independent streak quickly emerged in his choice of mentors. McCain has said it was the late Rep. Morris Udall, D-Ariz., who taught him about the necessity of forging bipartisan coalitions to pass significant legislation.

McCain took Udall's advice to heart, and it later crystallized with his successful push with Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., for a new campaign-finance-reform law.

"He had no trouble trying to work on a bipartisan basis," said former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., who served in the Senate with McCain from 1987 to 1995 and is now a lobbyist.

DeConcini recalls McCain going out of his way to befriend Udall and, early on, accompanying him at times when senior Arizona delegation members would huddle to discuss issues important to the state.

"Often, I remember having those meetings and McCain would show up and kind of just be a 'yes person' for Udall," he said. "Which is fine. He learned something, and I had no objection to it."

Scott Celley, a press aide to McCain from 1987 until 1994, said McCain's maverick side was apparent from his earliest days in Congress.

Many recall McCain's 1983 House vote against extending President Reagan's Marine deployment in Lebanon. McCain cited a lack of "obtainable objectives" in the mission. Soon after, 241 Marines died in a terrorist attack on their barracks.

Celley pointed to other examples, such as McCain's early criticism of wasteful Pentagon spending, which was not a top concern for many Republicans during the days of Reagan's defense buildup.

McCain's opposition to the 1988 catastrophic health-insurance law and subsequent attempt to reform it was widely reported at the time but little remembered now. McCain sensed that Arizona seniors thought the new federal program was a disaster. But when McCain brought up the problems, Senate leaders "mocked" him, Celley recalled.

"I remember overhearing him say on the floor, 'We're going to keep coming back here and revisiting this issue over and over until I have persuaded all of you guys that this is the wrong thing,' " Celley said.

Eventually, senior outrage over a surtax in the plan mounted nationwide. The Senate voted 99-0 in October 1989 to adopt a McCain reform plan before ultimately repealing the entire program a month later.

Redefining McCain

The preponderance of incidences of McCain either bucking Bush or defying Senate GOP leaders will make it hard for Democrats to recast him as a White House stooge at this late date, said James Pfiffner, a presidential scholar at George Mason University in Virginia and the author of the 2004 book The Character Factor: How We Judge America's Presidents.

The continuing distrust and hostility toward McCain from high-profile conservative commentators such as Ann Coulter only reinforces McCain's reputation as a party outsider, he said.

"A lot more people are going to listen to (national radio host) Rush Limbaugh than are going to read the DNC 'myth buster' stuff," Pfiffner said.

Besides, McCain continues to do things his own way.

Two recent examples of McCain's trademark style don't reflect shrewd political calculation.

He continued to call for victory in Iraq, even at a time when it appeared to imperil his chances to secure the GOP nomination. McCain repeatedly said he'd rather lose a political campaign than a war and still might as public skepticism about U.S. involvement in Iraq remains high.

"It helps on the character part, but it hurts on the policy part," Pfiffner said.

Likewise, there's little upside to McCain's comments downplaying his own economic expertise other than to suggest he is someone who can comfortably discuss his flaws in public - at least away from the heat of a presidential campaign. Those remarks came back to haunt him as the economy rose to prominence in this year's race.

"He actually admits error more than most," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a McCain backer. "He almost prides himself in it. He can't wait to tell you about a mistake he made or when he was wrong, and that's fairly refreshing in a politician."

McCain's sincerity even wins some grudging praise from an unlikely source: Ralph Nader, the longtime consumer advocate who is running for president as an independent.

Nader likes what McCain has accomplished on campaign-finance reform and appreciates his positions on global warming, torture and Pentagon procurement practices.

"But on foreign and military policy, he's horrendous," Nader said. "I've called him the candidate of permanent war and intervention around the world."

Still, Nader believes McCain is genuine and motivated by what he thinks is right. Conservatives ought to take note of that, he said, particularly if they expect to sway McCain on other issues after he is sworn in as president.

"If they think they can change him, they're whistling Dixie."



