Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters and friend of the blog brings John McCain’s Nation Journal conservative ratings to our attention:
John McCain did not make enough votes to get a rating in 2007, spending a great deal of time campaigning for the presidency. His lifetime NJ composite rating is a 71.8 conservative score, not bad but not exactly leading-edge. Chuck Hagel got a 71.5 and Sam Brownback an 81, for comparison. However, the last several years shows a much lower rating than the lifetime score:
2006 – 56.7
2005 – 59.2
2004 – 51.7
John McCain has been in the senate so long that his earlier conservative votes disguise his most recent years where he’s barely batted .500 on being a conservative. Again, this is during a period of time where he’s supposed to be running for president and thereby trying to capture the base of his party. What’s he going to do when he doesn’t have to appeal to conservatives anymore?
That argues well for term limits. The longer politicians remain in Washington, the more liberal they become. Same thing happens to judges. They begin to see everything through the prism of government, to see it as the default solution for every problem. Career politicians are a threat to small government and thereby liberty.
McCain also seems to have reacted to his loss in 2000 by turning left…”I’ll show those conservatives.”
Mark Levin also puts forth the McCain-2000-sour-grapes theory, and Hastert endorses Romney.
http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2008/02/01/levinhastert0201081.mp3