Evangelical Leader: McCain Lacks Principle

Richard Cizik is one of the country's most powerful and outspoken Christian evangelical leaders. He happens to be a Republican, and he has known the GOP's presidential nominee for many years. "I thought John McCain was a principled person," Cizik says. "But John McCain has backed off, not just on climate change but on torture and a sensible tax policy -- in other words, he's not the John McCain of 2000. ... He seems to be waffling on issue after issue.

It's not illogical for someone to conclude that John McCain is going to be more like George Bush than John McCain is going to be like John McCain in 2000."

Characterizing the GOP's presidential nominee as an unprincipled waffler is strong stuff from the man who oversees governmental affairs and is the chief lobbyist of the 30-million-member Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Evangelicals. But Cizik -- named this year by TIME magazine one of the world's 100 most influential people -- is no stranger to controversies that come from strong convictions.

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