Everglades Restoration
McCain Flips:
McCain explained in June 2008 that he is “in favor of doing whatever’s necessary to save the Everglades,” which he called “one of America’s greatest natural treasures.” [Herald Tribune, 6/5/08 & Miami Herald, 6/4/08]
McCain Flops:
As the Miami Herald reported, McCain voted against a 2007 bill that would provide 2 billion to Everglade restoration. He also “did not participate in the landmark debate over the state-federal partnership to preserve the Everglades in 2000,” and was “out of town” for the subsequent 85-1 vote in the Senate. [Miami Herald, 6/4/08]
Katrina Investigations
McCain Flips:
At a town hall meeting in Baton Rouge on June 3, 2008, McCain said regarding government failure in the aftermath of Katrina that he has “supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy.” [Think Progress, 6/4/08]
McCain Flops:
In September 2005, McCain joined conservatives in voting against “establishing a commission to investigate the levee failures” that occurred during hurricane Katrina. In 2006, McCain also opposed a commission to study the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. [Los Angeles Times, 6/25/08]
Torture
McCain Flips:
In 2005, McCain pushed President Bush to sign a bill that would, among other provisions, prohibit “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of anyone in U.S. government custody. McCain authored the torture ban himself. “We’ve sent a message to the world that the United States is not like the terrorists,” McCain said. McCain was also against waterboarding, saying during presidential primary campaigning “all I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today…It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture.” [MSNBC, 12/15/05 & New York Times, 10/26/07]
McCain Flops:
In 2008, McCain voted against the Intelligence Authorization Bill, which requires the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as articulated in the Army Field Manual and bans waterboarding. [New York Times, 2/17/08]
Bush Tax Cuts
McCain Flips:
In 2001 and 2003 McCain opposed President Bush’s tax cuts, saying on the Senate floor that “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief.” [Bloomberg, 6/6/08]
McCain Flops:
In 2006, McCain voted to extend the Bush tax cuts, in what the Washington Times called a “sharp departure from his anti-tax-cut posture.” In February 2008, McCain went even further, and called for the tax cuts to be made permanent. “Well, I think the worst thing we can do right now, Chris, is — we’ve got some shaky economic times — is to increase people’s taxes,” he said. “And I think that what we need is more tax cuts. We need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.” [Washington Times, 2/27/06 & Fox News Sunday 2/3/08]
Ethanol
McCain Flips:
During the 2000 primaries, McCain said during a debate that “ethanol is not worth it. It does not help the consumer.” Three years later, he opined that “ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn’t create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it.” [MSNBC debate, 12/14/99 & Fortune 10/31/06]
McCain Flops:
In an August 2006 speech in Grinnell, Iowa, McCain said “I support ethanol, and I think it is a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign
oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects.” [Fortune 8/15/06]
Job Losses In Michigan
McCain Flips:
In a January 2008 speech in Grand Rapids, McCain said “I’ve got to give you some straight talk: Some of the jobs that have left the state of Michigan are not coming back. They are not. And I am sorry to tell you that.”[Boston Globe, 1/10/08]
McCain Flops:
Six months later, Bloomberg news reported that McCain “is singing a different tune, striking a populist pose and saying ‘new jobs are coming’” to Michigan. [Bloomberg, 6/5/08]
Windfall Profits Tax
McCain Flips:
In a May 5, 2008 speech in North Carolina, McCain said that “I don’t like obscene profits being made anywhere–and I’d be glad to look not just at the windfall profits tax.” [CNN, 5/8/08]
McCain Flops:
In June 2008, McCain criticized Sen. Obama for supporting a windfall profits tax. “If the plan sounds familiar, it’s because that was President Jimmy Carter’s big idea, too, and a lot of good it did us,’’ McCain said, adding that such a tax would hinder domestic exploration. [New York Times, 6/17/08]