In today’s New York Times there is a story about how the GOP wants to keep Bush’s tax-cuts for the wealthiest Americans. At the end of the article, it mentions the upcoming vote on Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell — and discusses opposition by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). The senator actually has the nerve to say that Majority Leader Harry Reid is scheduling a vote because of politics instead of principle. According to the Times:

The senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he would try to block the Pentagon measure because he said the White House was moving to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” without properly gauging the impact on battle readiness and troop morale.

Mr. McCain said that he did not believe there was time to complete the bill and that Democrats had other motivations. “Everything that’s done around here is done for political reasons,” he said. “And Harry Reid does everything for political reasons.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

This is the same John McCain who has reinvented himself as a Tea Party conservative in the past year to win his GOP primary. This is the same John McCain that put our national security at risk by choosing the inexperienced Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential nominee. This is the same McCain who ran for president as a maverick, but now denies that he is a maverick. This is the same crass politician who spent his sorry career pushing for campaign finance reform– only to run away from the issue in this year’s campaign. This is the same McCain who wanted sensible immigration reform, but now supports the draconian and discriminatory Arizona law and poses by the border saying we should build the dang fence.

In the history of modern politics, has there been a more protean politician than John McCain? Has there been a bigger phony in Washington? If there is, I certainly can’t recall his or her name. John McCain is a self-absorbed, power-hungry charlatan who stands for only one issue: His career.

Our friend David Mixner wrote a good piece in 2007, “The Selling Out of John McCain”. Here is a short article I wrote on McCain.