When John McCain won the Republican nomination for president in the last presidential election, conservatives were upset. McCain's fondness of immigration reform in the form of amnesty, his free speech killing bill on campaign finance, and the fact that he voted against the Bush tax cuts (though he explained his reasoning as being that the tax cuts were meaningless without being accompanied by spending cuts, which is why he did not vote for the tax cuts), made him a moderate in the eyes of the Republican Party's base. Establishment Republicans argued that the only way to win an election was to become a mild version of the Democrat Party. Their promise of a new progressive GOP proved to be a disaster, and McCain lost the election, largely because conservatives stayed home (except the few willing to vote for McCain because of his wise pick of Palin as his running mate), and independents voted for Obama since John McCain's Straight Talk Express couldn't get any of his positions straight.
After the election McCain's popularity among the GOP's base plummeted, especially after news of how his campaign team treated Palin emerged.
Even more confusing was Sarah Palin's decision to stump for McCain this year as he fights to retain his seat against a conservative challenger, J.D. Hayworth. Some say she is paying him back for placing her on the national stage. Nonetheless, many conservatives are disappointed by her decision to stump for a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
In a panic, McCain is trying to move to the right, but in the process he is contradicting his past positions. He is now speaking out against the very stimulus he voted for, has changed direction on his opinion regarding Guantanamo Bay, and backed down from statements that gays in the military would be fine by him if the military brass were on board.
America is recapturing the wave of conservatism that vaulted Ronald Reagan into the presidency, and the voters don't believe McCain when he says he's on board. In fact, what America is realizing about John McCain is in his attempt to be a big tent Republican, and in his attempt to be a reach across the aisle moderate, John McCain has no convictions.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
From Right of Radio Dial, a Challenge to McCain - New York Times
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