Is McCain really a perma-hawk?

Posted By Joshua Keating Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - 12:11 PM Share

Responding to Jacob Weisberg's mournful re-evaluation of Sen. John McCain, Matthew Yglesias writes: 

I feel like some of the media’s John McCain fanboys should give more consideration to the idea that less here has changed than they think, and they themselves just shouldn’t have been so eager to embrace McCain in the first place. McCain is still a fanatical warmonger who believes in maximal application of military force in all circumstances, a kind of mirror-image Quaker. That his cartoonish worldview has ever been taken seriously tells you a lot about how deep in the grips of militarism Washington, DC is.

I'm not sure what timeframe Yglesias is considering but it's not true that McCain never met a war he didn't like. McCain's early career in congress was actually more defined by opposition to the use of military force.  In 1983, as a freshman congressman, McCain broke with President Reagan and most congressional Republicans to oppose the redeployment of U.S. troops in Lebanon. Regarding what came to be known as Operation Desert Storm, he told the New York Times in 1990:

''If you get involved in a major ground war in the Saudi desert, I think support will erode significantly. Nor should it be supported. We cannot even contemplate, in my view, trading American blood for Iraqi blood.'' 

He also opposed U.S. military operations in Somalia, Haiti, and (initially) Bosnia. From Kosovo on, and certainly after 9/11, McCain has been far more hawkish. But at the time of the 2000 election, when the "fanboys" first acquired their McCain infatuation, the senator actually had a fairly mixed record on military force.     

Joshua Lott/Getty Images

EXPLORE:MILITARY, U.S. CONGRESS
 

JAYDEE001

6:59 PM ET

July 13, 2010

It's less of a mixed record - more of a transitional one

I believe that McCain's enthusiasm for the wars we have gotten involved in has actually grown the closer he has come to presidential politics. He's also faced with a challenge by a kook from the far right fringe of his own policy for the Senate seat he has held so dearly.

As a former 'maverick', he actually was quite courageous in standing up to his own party numerous times, on campaign finance reform, etc. But once he tasted the bitter defeats of several failed campaigns for the chief executive post, he became a convert to the NEOCON bible of "strong national defense", a unilateral US foreign policy, and militarism. Hell, he even kissed Jerry Falwell's a$$ (a person he once despised) when he thought it might garner a few votes in the bible belt. His choice of the great bitch from Alaska as a running mate shows how far he is willing to go to placate the wing-nuts in his party.

McCain continues to subordinate his own more decent instincts to suit his electoral needs. He is even now continuing to move to the right on (1) nominees to the supreme court, (2) immigration policy, and watch him on his changing position on "don't ask don't tell".

He's realized long ago that the support of his party came at a price, and he's willing to pay it, no matter what.

 

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