McCain: The Democrat?
John McCain almost switched sides in 2001 according to The Hill:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.In McCain's defense, he was treated very poorly during the 2000 primary and I would have thought about leaving too if I had gone through something similar.In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.
Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain’s case, they said, it was McCain’s top strategist who came to them.
[...]
Daschle noted that McCain at that time was frustrated with the Bush administration as a result of his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary.
Daschle said that throughout April and May of 2001, he and McCain “had meetings and conversations on the floor and in his office, I think in mine as well, about how we would do it, what the conditions would be. We talked about committees and his seniority … [A lot of issues] were on the table.”
However, McCain is truth-impaired. He told The Hill that he rejected the idea of being Kerry's running mate "out of hand." But in April of 2004, McCain told Good Morning America, "Obviously, I would entertain it." Then later in 2004, McCain outright denied the offer was ever on the table on The Tony Snow Show:
Snow: [I]s it true that John Kerry asked you to be his vice president?Sooooo...yeah. Which McCain do you want to believe?
McCAIN: Uh, no. No, it was never offered.SNOW: It was never offered. So, it may have been discussed elliptically, but never flat out request.
McCAIN: Never was an offer, no.
Comments
Duncan Hunter for President. The only Reagan conservative in the race.
Posted by: Sen John Douglas | March 31, 2007 02:14 PM
The switch deal was offered to Linc Chafee. Included in the deal was the chairmanship of Environment and Public Works. Chafee, to his credit, rejected the deal. Had he not done so, he would still be in the Senate today. It's easy to take shots at Lincoln Chafee but on that day, he did the right thing. Not so Jim Jeffords. Jeffords who chaired the HELP committee was term-limited as Chairman and after two years he would lose the Chairmanship and had no prospects of gaining another chairmanship on another committee. So as he looked down the road, he saw that he had very little opportunities left, however, if he took the Democratic deal, he would presumably chair Environment and Public Works for the next 6 years or longer since the Dems don't term limit their Chairmen. He simply sold out to the highest bidder and in doing so, robbed his close moderate Republican friends of longstanding of their chairmanships. The left wing media immediately pronounced his defection as a principled decision. It wasn't. Ask yourself this, if his switching would not have resulted in a chairmanship and a switch in power, would have have done so? Of course not. And that is the answer. He was an unprincipled man who sold out to the highest bidder as a matter of political expediency.
While I'm sure the Dems strategized about convincing McCain to switch, I never saw any evidence of his considering it and it is very possible that one of his advisors broached the subject but that doesn't mean McCain authorized or encouraged the approach. Weaver was probably putting options together for the boss.
Posted by: DMZDave | March 31, 2007 03:25 PM
"Drudge" and "good information" should never be used in the same sentence.
Posted by: Trackboy1 | March 31, 2007 09:05 PM