McCain is right on with his comment. Republicans are no longer true to their basic goals.
However, he said that if they don't do something soon, principles will be lost and a horrible legacy will be formed.
I believe that has already happened. PoliSci students years from now will study the past 6 years as how a democracy should not be run.

Please see Meet The Press transcript of John McCain below from April 2, 2006 where Tim Russert tore John McCain apart with his inconsistencies from what he said in 2000 compared to what he is saying now!

Below that are two transcripts from Rush Limbaugh with his comments on John McCain from that Meet The Press interview titled "The Media Turns on John McCain" and "Bloom Is Off the Media's Maverick."

Finally below that is an article titled "Dems blast McCain for Falwell flip-flop."

John McCain with his obvious flip-flops is not fooling Tim Russert when Russert quotes “Blunt truth never lasts long. John McCain, for example, has become a born-again Bushophile, and that was the end of him has an honest, independent voice.”

John McCain is not fooling Rush Limbaugh and the Neocon activist GOP grassroots base with his flip-flops and he is also not fooling Democrats!

I see John McCain right now where Joe Lieberman was in 2003 when he was running for President.  Lieberman started out in 2003 with a lot of name recognition, with many friends, and he could get a lot of media attention.  But in the 2004 primary race, he could only get very little support from the Democratic grassroots because he was so far out of touch with them and almost no Republicans supported him!

That is about the same for John McCain now but probably worse.  The Neocon GOP leaders and activists will never forgive McCain for leading the "Gang of 14" to stop the Nuclear Option showdown in the Senate that they wanted so badly, they will never forgive him on joining up with Ted Kennedy on the illegal immigration issue, and they will never forgive his position against torturing prisoners!

Why would the GOP Neocons settle for John McCain when George Allen is giving them everything that they want on a silver platter and when other well known GOP candidates like Bill Frist, Mitt Romney, and Sam Brownback will give them almost everything that they want?

Most Democrats will not support McCain for his obvious flip-flops, for his trying to cater to the Neocons now, and for his selling out to Bush in 2004 when he clearly knew better than to do that!  So why would Democrats want to support McCain?

John McCain will make some noise in the media but I do not see him going much further in 2008 than Joe Lieberman went in 2004 because the support for him is just not there for him to go anywhere short of some miracle happening in his favor!

John McCain is all over the board trying to be all things to all people instead of running on a consistent message which he does not have in my opinion! 

I would also speculate that Chuck Hagel is probably sitting back and just waiting for McCain to implode so that he can emerge as the anti-Neocon and "Maverick" candidate for the GOP nomination in 2008! 

Mitch Dworkin

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12067487/page/4/ 

MEET THE PRESS

Transcript for April 2

John McCain, Tony Zinni

Updated: 1:44 p.m. ET April 2, 2006

MR. RUSSERT: It’s been interesting for political observers to watch the relationship between you and George W. Bush. In 2000 you said the campaign that he ran against you was not honorable. In 2004 this was the scene stop after stop on the campaign trail, hugs and yes, kisses all around. McCain and Bush, buddy-buddy.

“Blunt truth never lasts long. John McCain, for example, has become a born-again Bushophile, and that was the end of him has an honest, independent voice.” And that has been a whole series of commentary this last couple of weeks. E.J. Dionne and The Washington Post has this: “A maverick no more.” The Washington Times, conservative paper, “Senator John McCain, who has consistently opposed President Bush’s tax cuts, recently voted to extend some of them, a move conservatives say is a political flip-flop intended to further his White House ambitions. ... When Mr. Bush’s $1.35 trillion dollar tax-cut bill ... came up for a final vote in May 2001, Mr. McCain was one of two Senate Republicans to vote, ‘No.’ ‘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 need tax relief,’ he said at the time.” Now, record deficits, and John McCain says, “I’m for the Bush tax cut.”

SEN. McCAIN: Well, first of all, I’ve got to—I’ll go back to your initial statement. I didn’t say that President Bush ran a dishonorable campaign. I said that things were done that were wrong. I don’t believe they were done by President Bush. I met with Pres—then-Governor Bush three months after I dropped out of the race, and we met, and I supported and campaigned for him in the year 2000. Not 2004, 2000. And I supported him in his foreign and other policy matters as president of the United States, and I’m proud to do so. I disagreed with him on several issues. I still do. But in 2004, I believed that the transcending issue of that campaign was who was best equipped to fight the war on terror...

MR. RUSSERT: And you said—In March of 2000--March of 2000...

SEN. McCAIN: ...and that’s why I was glad. So I did not change my position in support of President Bush. Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: ...March 2004, I asked you if you believed that George Bush ran an honorable campaign and you said, “I cannot say that.”

SEN. McCAIN: Quote, “Ran an honorable campaign.” I put those things behind me. I don’t look back in anger. I don’t think the American people expect me to look back in anger. Things are said and done in political campaigns which are pretty, which are pretty tough. And they are—and campaigns are tough in America, and they should be. But my support for him was announced three months after the primary was over in the year 2000.

MR. RUSSERT: But you’re now voting for the tax cut which you had not voted for. You came out and said we should teach intelligent design in classes as well as evolution. Jerry Falwell, Jerry Falwell, you’re now giving the commencement address at Liberty University in May. This is what you said about Jerry Falwell in February of 2000. Let’s watch.

(Videotape, February 28, 2000):

SEN. McCAIN: Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: “Agents of intolerance.” And you were asked about that speech and you said this: “I must not and will not retract anything that I said in that speech at Virginia Beach. It was carefully crafted. It was carefully thought out.” Based on that, do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?

SEN. McCAIN: I would like to first respond to several comments that you made as a predicate. First of all, on the tax cuts. I do not believe in tax increases. Now, it was a gimmick that was—that the tax cuts were temporary and then had to be made permanent. The tax cuts are now there and voting to revoke them would have been to—not to extend them would have meant a tax increase. I’ve never voted for a tax increase in my life.

MR. RUSSERT: Well, that’s important. But it would, it would, it would mean that...

SEN. McCAIN: But it’s be very important that I finish saying what I think.

MR. RUSSERT: But, let me just, for the record, it would have gone back to tax rates.

SEN. McCAIN: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: That you had supported.

SEN. McCAIN: Yes. But the economy had adjusted, the tax cuts were there, and if it would have been—and that’s the way it was designed. It would’ve been tantamount to a tax increase. And that’s, and that’s a fact. And I’ve never voted for a tax increase in my life with the exception of...

MR. RUSSERT: So there’s no politics?

SEN. McCAIN: ...supporting a tax. No. I do things because I think they’re right. I mean, and obviously you—if people are free to judge however they want to. As regards to Reverend Falwell, which is the major thrust of your comments, I met with Reverend Falwell, he came to see me in Washington. We, we agreed to disagree on certain issues and we agreed to move forward. I believe that speaking at Liberty University is no different from speaking at the New College or Ohio State University, all of which I’m speaking—I speak at a lot of colleges and universities. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to do so, to talk to young Americans and talk to them about the obligations and the privileges of freedom.

MR. RUSSERT: But Senator, when you were on here in 2000, I asked you about Jerry Falwell, and this is what you said.

(Videotape, March 5, 2000):

SEN. McCAIN: Governor Bush swung far to the right and sought out the base support of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. That’s—those aren’t the ideas that I think are good for the Republican Party.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Do you think that Jerry Falwell’s ideas are now good for the Republican Party?

SEN. McCAIN: I believe that the Christ—quote, “Christian right,” has a major role to play in the Republican Party. One reason is, is because they’re so active, and their, and their followers are. And I believe they have a right to be a part of our party. I don’t have to agree with everything they stand for, nor do I have to agree with everything that’s on the liberal side of the Republican Party. If we have to agree on every issue, we’re not a Republican Party. I believe in open and honest debate. Was I unhappy in, in, in the year 2000 that I lost the primary and there were some attacks on me that I thought was unfair?  Of course. Do I—should I get over it?  Should I serve—can I serve the people of Arizona best by looking back in anger or moving forward?

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?

SEN. McCAIN: No, I don’t. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain to you his views on this program when you have him on.

MR. RUSSERT: After September 11th, let me show you what...

SEN. McCAIN: Go ahead. Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: ...Reverend Falwell had to say. “What we saw on [September 11th], as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve. ... I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle ... I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’”

SEN. McCAIN: You’ll have to...

MR. RUSSERT: Are you embracing that?

SEN. McCAIN: I am speaking at the, at the graduation of his, his university. I’m not embracing all of the tenets that are expressed at the new college in New York City, nor other liberal universities and institutions that I have spoke at. For example, I don’t agree with the Ivy League colleges barring recruiters—military recruiters from their campuses, but I still speak there.

MR. RUSSERT: Are you concerned that people are going to say, “I see. John McCain tried ‘straight talk express,’ ‘maverick,’ it didn’t work in 2000, so now in 2008 he’s going to become a conventional, typical politician, reaching out to people that he called agents of intolerance, voting for tax cuts he opposed, to make himself more appealing to the hard-core Republican base.”

SEN. McCAIN: I think most people will judge my record exactly for what it is, where I take positions that I stand, that I stand for and I believe in. Whether it be climate change, whether it be torture, or whether it be a number of other issues with which I am—immigration. I, I don’t think that my position on immigration is exactly pleasing to the far right base. I will continue to take positions that I believe in and I stand for. And I recognize that a lot of my credibility is based on that, and I think most Americans will judge me by my entire record.

MR. RUSSERT: When do you make the decision whether to run for president?

SEN. McCAIN: Next year.

MR. RUSSERT: ‘07.

SEN. McCAIN: ‘07.

MR. RUSSERT: Early?

SEN. McCAIN: I, I haven’t exactly ascertained that. My focus and efforts are the 2006 elections, which are going to be very tough for Republicans, and we all know that. And I spent yesterday, and I’m spending a lot of time going around and campaigning for Republicans, and that’s the focus of my efforts between now and next—and this November.

MR. RUSSERT: Reverend Falwell said that you had expressed a willingness to support a federal marriage amendment, which would define a union between a man and a woman. Is that true?

SEN. McCAIN: Reverend Falwell was asked again about that, and he clarified it; my position has always been that I will vote against a constitutional amendment, which will come before the Senate on, on this issue, because I think the states should decide. That’s the essence of federalism. In my state of Arizona, we have a ballot initiative on this issue, which I am supporting. And so—but if the courts, if the, if through the court process, they say that that’s not constitutional, then I would support a constitutional amendment.

MR. RUSSERT: During—before you go, last week, you talked about people raising your temper as an issue. I read an interview you gave Fortune magazine, “You lose battles in politics. I do get good and angry. Really angry!  By God, I’m not going to let them beat me again. I don’t like to lose.”

SEN. McCAIN: I was laughing when I said that and I was joking. I spend every day saying to myself, “Stay calm. Stay cool. Be passionate. But neither get angry nor personal.” And that—those are two important lessons that I’ve learned over the years. I spent a lot of time burning bridges early in my political campaign, but—political life. Now I work to try to build bridges.

MR. RUSSERT: And we’ll be watching. Senator John McCain, thanks for joining us and sharing your views.

SEN. McCAIN: I haven’t had so much fun since my last interrogation.

MR. RUSSERT: Coming next, the former commander of U.S. Central Command who warned against going into Iraq. General Tony Zinni is here with his new book, “The Battle for Peace,” right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

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http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_040306/content/see_i_told_you_so.guest.html 

The Media Turns on John McCain

April 3, 2006

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

I've gotta get to these McCain sound bites because the media is turning on him, folks. They can't understand. He's flip-flopped on tax cuts, he's flip-flopped on Jerry Falwell and I told you this was going to happen. This is actually very beneficial for McCain as far as the Republican base is concerned because they don't like the mainstream press. It was on Meet the Press yesterday. Russert, "You're now voting for the tax cut that you not voted for. You came out and said we should teach intelligent design in classes as well as evolution. Jerry Falwell, you are now giving the commencement address at Liberty University in May. Do you believe Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?"

McCAIN: The tax cuts are now there, and voting to revoke them would have been -- not to extend them would have meant a tax increase. I've never voted for a tax increase --

RUSSERT: It's important --

McCAIN: It's very important that I finish saying what --

RUSSERT: For the record, it would have gone back to tax rates that you had supported.

McCAIN: Yes. But the economy had adjusted, the tax cuts were there, and if -- it would have been -- that's the way it was designed, would have been tantamount to a tax increase, and that's -- and that's -- and I've never voted for a tax increase in my life with the exception --

RUSSERT: So there's no politics?

McCAIN: I do things because I think they're right.

RUSH: McCain, by the way, he added this.

McCAIN: With regards to Reverend Falwell, which is the major thrust of your comments, I met with Reverend Falwell. He came to see me in Washington. We agreed to disagree on certain issues, and we agreed to move forward. I believe that speaking at Liberty University is no different from speaking at the New College or Ohio State University, all of which I am speaking. I speak at a lot of colleges and universities. 

RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?

McCAIN: No, I don't. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain to you his views on this program when you have him on.

RUSH: You know, Falwell, Robertson, doesn't matter, but these people will never ask somebody, "Why do you support Calypso Louie, Louis Farrakhan?" Russert won't let go, though, telling him here he thinks he's losing credibility as a maverick and with his base in the media.

McCAIN: I think most people will judge my record exactly for what it is, where I take positions that I stand for and I believe in, whether it be climate change, whether it be torture or whether it be a number of other issues with which I am -- immigration. I don't think that my position on immigration is exactly pleasing to the far-right base. I will continue to take positions that I believe in and I stand for. And I recognize that a lot of my credibility is based on that, and I think most Americans will judge me by my entire record.

RUSH: Finally Russert says, "Could we have two wars at once?" Talking about invading Iran.

McCAIN: I think we could have Armageddon, but I think if we handle this right, and our European allies stand with us, and the Russians and the Chinese stand with us, sanctions might do the job. And I am confident that this administration will exhaust every effort before contemplating seriously a military option.

RUSH: And that's it, folks, the honeymoon is over. He's praising Falwell. He's praising Bush. He's praising tax cuts. The media is not going to continue to hoist this guy up as the maverick and the great moderate that can unite the differences in this country.

END TRANSCRIPT 

Read the Background Material...

(AP: McCain Softens Language on Jerry Falwell)
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1797358 

(Daily News: Dems Blast McCain for Falwell Flip-Flop )
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/405459p-343248c.html 

*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_040406/content/see_i_told_you_so.guest.html 

Bloom Is Off the Media's Maverick

April 4, 2006

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

We've got some audio sound bites you've gotta hear. We put together a couple of montages of recent times, in the distant past, to illustrate for you what I predicted, that McCain's status as a maverick and the loved and preferred member of the Republican Party by the drive-by media has come to an end or is in the process. First, the media is in mourning over the fact that John McCain is a maverick no more. This is just a montage of media figures from the drive-by media in the past two or three days.

MATTHEWS: Here's a guy who's known as Mr. Maverick, now he wants to be the made man of the religious right. Is he going to get away with it?

BARNES: He's not a maverick candidate anymore.

RUSSERT: E. J. Dionne in the Washington Post has this: "A maverick no more."

MATTHEWS: Does he lose some of that maverick quality?

REAGAN: The people who really love John McCain, his loyal followers like him because they see him as an iconoclast, a maverick, and he's forfeiting a lot of that by sliding over to the right. 

RUSH: I told you this is going to happen. This will be real interesting. Stu Rothenberg has a piece (story). He's a pollster and analyst. He says all this is setting McCain up perfectly for '08. The Republicans are going to end up having some trouble in '06; the party is going to want somebody who can win in '08, setting McCain up. There's just one thing about all this, though. While McCain's professed base, the drive-by media, is now starting to scratch their heads and maybe trickle away from him and they're starting to asking him pointed, tough questions, like Russert did on Meet the Press on Sunday. The real question is, how will McCain deal with this as it intensifies down the road? These people, he's cultivated them. They loved him, and now they're turning on him. You have to think, you just have to think he knew that this was going to happen at some point, if his strategery was to go after the Republican base. Just had to know it. Now, maybe he fooled himself and thought that he could still hold all these disparate groups by tacking to the right here, but I'm not sure. 

Anyway, let's go back to the happy days, just so you can compare the montage we just shared with you. Go back to the happy days when McCain was the maverick that the media loved, the rightful president of the United States who had the office stolen from him by George Bush in South Carolina. This is dating back to 2001.

COKIE ROBERTS : As Democrats prepare to retake the Senate, new questions about maverick Republican John McCain.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: The maverick from Arizona, often at odds with the president and his own party, what's John McCain really up to these days?

TIM RUSSERT: John McCain spends a social weekend with Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle. What is the maverick Arizona senator up to?

CHRIS MATTHEWS: What is the maverick McCain up to? Is that what this is -- sort of a personal feud between the leader and the maverick?

JOSH GERSTEIN: GOP leaders worried about John McCain, the maverick Republican senator's political plans.

ERIC ENBERG: The new majority leader of the Senate, spends the weekend with this man, Republican maverick and nemesis John McCain.

KATIE COURIC: This weekend maverick Republican Senator John McCain had a very interesting house guest.

CAMPBELL BROWN: Maverick Republican Senator John McCain.

JOHN KING: Maverick Republican Senator John McCain loves the spotlight.

GERALDO RIVERA: Is McCain another maverick outsider?

BILL PRESS: Bush is having dinner at the White House tonight with maverick John McCain.

RUSH: There you have it. That's from 2001. Let's go back and play just the recent days' montage for contrast again.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Here's a guy who's known as Mr. Maverick, now he wants to be the made man of the religious right. Is he going to get away with it?

FRED BARNES: He's not a maverick candidate anymore.

TIM RUSSERT: E. J. Dionne in the Washington Post has this: "A maverick no more."

MATTHEWS: Does he lose some of that maverick quality?

RON REAGAN: The people who really love John McCain, his loyal followers like him because they see him as an iconoclast, a maverick and he's forfeiting a lot of that by sliding over to the right.

RUSH: So the bloom's off the rose, honeymoon is over, you can see it beginning to happen here.

END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Background Material...

Stuart Rothenberg: Things Continue To Fall Into Place for McCain
E.J. Dionne, Jr.: A Maverick No More?
Arianna Huffington: The Tragic Irony of John McCain's Faustian Bargain
Washington Post: McCain Softens Language on Jerry Falwell

*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.

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http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/405459p-343248c.html 

Dems blast McCain for Falwell flip-flop

BY MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Senator John McCain

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain started feeling the heat of being the GOP White House front-runner yesterday as questions arose over his embrace of Jerry Falwell - a man he once labeled an "agent of intolerance."The Arizona maverick who lost to George Bush in 2000 once criticized the conservative alliance that Bush tapped into for the win, including saying the ideas of Falwell and the Christian right wing were not good for the GOP.

But McCain recently agreed to speak at Falwell's Liberty University in what many see as a sign he's shifting to the right to win a GOP primary - much the way many say Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has tried to move to the center with her eye on 2008.

He stood by his choice yesterday after being reminded of some of Falwell's positions, such as blaming 9/11 on God's anger over "the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians."

"I believe that the Christian right has a major role to play in the Republican Party," McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I met with Rev. Falwell .... We agreed to disagree on certain issues, and we agreed to move forward."

But the Democratic National Committee seized on McCain's embrace of Falwell and for some changing positions - singling out McCain for backing the extension of President Bush's tax cuts after opposing them in the first place, and for toughening his stance on abortion.

"Unfortunately, it appears that McCain's admission that he 'doesn't like to lose' is the most straight talk voters should expect from him for the next two years," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney.

"I think most people will judge my record exactly for what it is, where I take positions that I stand for and I believe in," McCain said on NBC. "I think most Americans will judge me by my entire record."

McCain said he would decide in 2007 whether he'll run for President.

Originally published on April 3, 2006

A link will suffice.  Thanks.

has a lot of followers--most of whom don't have a clue about MTP and his pandering to Bush.  If he keeps up the drumbeat on Republican spending and big Gov't, he could be a formidable candidate.
But he will, I predict, stop short of endorsing Jim Webb.  McCain is obsessed with the presidency, and he will kiss up to anyone in the Republican power structure to be the candidate.  IMO.