McCain Supports Bush's Warrantless Wiretaps

The New York Times reports today on how John McCain has flipped his position on warrantless wiretapping to look very similar to George Bush's. Below are a couple paragraphs from the article that reflect how John McCain has flip-flopped toward Bush:

A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush's program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team.

In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans' international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance...

...But Mr. McCain had previously stopped short of endorsing the view that Mr. Bush's program of surveillance without warrants was lawful all along because a president's wartime powers can trump statutory limits.

Andrew C. McCarthy, a National Review columnist who has defended the administration's legal theories, wrote that Mr. Holtz-Eakin's statement "implicitly shows Senator McCain's thinking has changed as time has gone on and he has educated himself on this issue."

And Glenn Greenwald, a Salon columnist and critic of the Bush administration's legal claims, wrote that the statement was a "complete reversal" by Mr. McCain, accusing the candidate of seeking "to shore up the support of right-wing extremists."

Comments

[willymanet]

This guy have flip-flopped so many times that I have lost count.

I like the guy, I am still searching for a reason to vote him; each time I inched towards one, one of these gaffe comes up.

It is becaming clearer to me that, voting for McCain is like putting your trust in the winds, i.e. he is so unstable and he is everywhere on major issues and one is not certain of his position any longer.

Can McCain's Campaign manager take a pulse here and try to research all McCain's previous positions and make sure that, they support his election campaign rhetoric? These guys are doing McCain and the country a big de-service.

Since everyone is entitle to change their mind on any issue at anytime, it will be great if McCain or his campaign tells the public if McCain for some reasons is taking a new position on a particular issue or policy. They should stop thinking that we are all fools and have a brain span of an five month baby and think that we do not remember or will not lookup his past policy positions. By doing this, they are ignoring the power of GOOGLE search to their own perils.

A word of wisdom is good for the wise.

[vmonter]

"Since everyone is entitle to change their mind on any issue at anytime"

True, and there's an exponential relationship between the number of times you change your mind on issues without a change in circumstances and how much credibility and integrity you have.

McCain is a horrible candidate, and would be horrible for this country. I'm glad his "gaffes" dissuade you from liking McCain, but I am unable to fathom why you still search for reasons to vote for someone you dislike.

He already gave his reason for why he changed on this issue: 9/11. Something that happened 7 years ago, and has made those full of fear and destruction lash out against the world - Americans included. These people love when tragedy strikes, because it makes the populace squishy and willing to accept their domination. That is all the "unitary executive" is - a voted-for dictator. It should be obvious why the GOP has so much interest in the middle east. They want to replicate it here, theocracy and all..

[DannyEastVillage]

things like this just don't surprise. this is the quantity & quality he has exhibited for years. if he flipped into a Bush supporter after Bush's boys torpedoed his campaign in SC four years ago over the color of his daughter's skin, then there is nothing--n­othing--fo­r which McCain will NOT sell his soul. This is small potatoes compared to that crawl back to Bush after the way Bush has treated him.

Imagine the contempt Bush must have for him.

[donttasemebro]

That should make for another great ad against him in the fall. The truth will be his biggest problem.

[mergina]

McYoyo

[JackLivigni]

McCain is going to try to have it both ways: solidify his support amongst GOP base, and attract Independents completely disillusioned with the administration. It will be up to Obama and the Democratic Party to expose his duplicity.

[shelobo]

Internet users can expose McCain far better than anyone else it seems,John McCain's real war http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/17/mccain/mccain/ In this article as in many others McCains 'flipping' is exposed.Ev­en a severe dyslexic can understand McCains about face on every policy he has.BEFORE he decided to run his policies were PURE BUSH,they still are ,just worded differentl­y.McCain IS pure Bush ,he has no choice .McCain once discribed Jerry Falwell as a threat to the Republican Party,then when McCain decided to start laying the ground work for a Presidental run he flipped to views that favored Falwell http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/washington/14mccain.htmll ,some call McCain a maverick,well history has shown us that Mavericks can flip quicker than anyone else.McCai­n does support Bush policies ,in a speech in Virgina ,McCain said "President Bush and the conflict's supporters are on the right side of history in the struggle against terrorism and extremism" If that comment isn't PRO-Bush I'm a monkey that can http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/4/11/AR2007041100203.html

[mgray34]

The flip flop express is chuggin down the track!!

[Freemind42]

I find it particularlyl interesting that the Right wing of our government decries "judicial activism" and prides itself in a "strict constructionalist" viewpoint of the Constitution and then takes artistic liberties with it when it comes to expanding executive authority (only when a Republican is in office). The hypocracy of the Right wing and the Repubilcan party is disgusting.

[HumeSkeptic]

You give much, too much credit to the modern American Right Wing. Their views are much more in line with those of Al Capone's. They think ""strict constructionalist" refers to no-bid building contracts in Iraq.

[HumeSkeptic]

I wish they would wiretap my conversations about them. They would hear and learn obscenity not heard since the beginning of time.

[RobertaInCT]

Go Hume......­..........­..:)

[mergina]

Haaaaaaaaaaaa! Hail McYoyo!

[javagirl322]

Surprise, surprise..­.

[paul1190]

of course he's going to follow bush's lead. thats the only people supporting him. the republicans are going to sink farther down because america is tired of being lied to

[ibsteve2u]

Somewhere there is a group of neocons sitting in a darkened room (probably either deep underground or in an exclusive club)....M­cCain says something, and then they tweak a knob, and then McCain's eye twitches and he takes a different position..­.

[AMJordan]

A friend of mine once had a theory that Walt Disney's greatest creation was Gerald Ford. He thought that there was no way for anyone to be as dumb as Ford and be real. You have to wonder if the Imagineers decided to build a McCain, too.

[tinarm]

Why does no one in the media ever report this stuff? Why isn't CNN, MSNBC, reporting this, making a big deal out of it? Because they are still controled by Bush. This administration stinks.

[Shadowmann1]

I agree. A great advantage that these networks have is videotape. They could easily show the contrast of a flip-flop and easily question the flip-flopper. It just makes no sense.

[landmine]

Yep, either controlled by, or agree with. Same must be said about the Democrats, who have powers of leverage they refuse to use.
I think it is all Kabuki.

[harriscrl3]

McCain a Flip Flopper? WOW didnt see that coming.

Carol

[99hockeyman]

If you are a Clinton supporter and you back McCain now instead of Senator Obama, you love Clinton more than you love this country.

[rabprevent]

Very good point!!
this dude has no backbone for a war hero! he is a pandering coward in terms of politics!

[TocinoHumano]

Much ado about not much of anything. Don't worry about it.

[hobgobbler]

here comes the commentaganda!

[slinkigirl311]

wait! wait! wait!

.....ok...­.....

i got some popcorn...­.

now GO!
=D hehehe

[aspertame2]

I keep waiting for proof of an RNC head fake. I wish someone would run a poll:

How many high muckity mucks in the GOP see McCain as any kind of potential winner?

Is there a GOP strategy to LOSE in November?

How many voters will select a tree stump over any candidate of color?

How do you think McCain will fare against Obama, at town hall meetings or in any other venue?

Could it be that provisions been made for a pitch hitter, should McCain to come down with an acute case of JustNotEle­ctibleitis­? (It will be interesting to see who his Veep choice is. Obama could be well advised to study up on THAT individual­.)