Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 6:14:42 PM
I shall write on this at greater length soon, but it is nice to see reality bearing out my predictions. In the past I have argued that McCain would
slowly shift to the right as he would want to shore up his Republican base. And sure enough, a
recent article on his tax cutting pledges shows that he is clearly adopting a more right leaning economic policy.
I am still waiting for him to back off on the environmental positions he has taken, but I am gambling he will either back off, or just silently drop the issue, long before November. He has already made fairly conservative economic statements concerning the
mortgage crisis, and has now adopted a conservative position on taxes. And he has always been right on
defense, gun rights, and a number of other issues.
I am
still leery of his positions on amnesty, immigration, and individual rights, such as his dreadful campaign finance reform. And I worry that his tendency to adopt
silly populist positions and bash businesses may undercut his strong economic message, but regardless he is still much better than Obama, and he is getting better with time.
As I said a long while ago, so long as he thinks he can win conservative votes,
he will move right. When we say we will never vote for him no matter what, we prevent that process from taking place. I am glad that enough sensible Republicans exist that he thinks moving right will win him votes.