Sen. John Kerry, who offered the Democratic vice presidential nomination to John McCain just four years ago, now says he doesn't recognize his old friend.
What's different about McCain?
Kerry says it's McCain's new positions on tax cuts, climate change, illegal immigration and a dozen other major policy issues of the day.
"Are you kidding?" Kerry says. "Talk about being for it before you're against it. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain. Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself."
This may be the first time I have ever agreed with John Kerry on anything.
The reason Kerry doesn't recognize his buddy is clearly because McCain has attempted to reinvent himself as a Republican presidential nominee, rather than as an almost Democratic vice-presidential nominee. McCain is a chameleon who could have filled either role – as he is proving now by solidifying the base of conservative Republicans simply by choosing a vice-presidential running mate to appease them.
But understand this: The McCain Kerry knew is the real McCain. He will never stop being that John McCain – the one who is pledged to fight the phantom crisis of man-made catastrophic global warming with your money, the one who will sign the biggest amnesty bill in the history of the country, the one who opposed President Bush's tax cuts twice, the one who supports federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, the one who overturned the First Amendment protections of political speech with his McCain-Feingold legislation, the one who opposed President Bush's best judicial nominees and sided with Democratic senators in the Gang of 14.
That's why Kerry is mystified. He's not seeing his old reliable political asset any more. McCain was characterized by the New Republic last year as the most effective advocate of Democratic Party policy in the U.S. Senate. That's the McCain Kerry misses.
But that McCain will be back. He will return as soon as he is elected to the presidency, I predict, with a considerable mandate from Republican voters who want to believe McCain has actually changed.
There are many out there who think I am just being obstinate by not drinking the McCain Kool-Aid. But, in my "None of the Above" campaign, it comes down to this: Would you rather have a Democrat as president who calls himself a Democrat and who, when his policies inevitably fail, will take the rap as a Democrat, or, would you rather have a Democrat who disguises himself as a Republican, whose policies will just as surely fail but whose failure will be blamed on him and Republicans?
To me, it's not even a close call.
I don't just look at the next four years. I am looking beyond the next four years. I am not content to see the country go to hell slowly. I want to reverse course – set the country on a better direction entirely. Neither McCain nor Barack Obama is going to do that. So we have to do what is expeditious for us in the future. And, like it or not, that means standing up in opposition to John McCain and Barack Obama.
For those who love life and liberty, it's time to draw a line in the sand. It's time to stop settling for the lowest common political denominator. It's time to demand more from your elected officials. It's time to insist on a commitment to the Constitution. It's time to expect honesty.