It has been well-documented that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has changed his position on various issues for political expediency — particularly on immigration. Once a champion of bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform, McCain drifted far right during his primary run for president in 2008 and then flipped back once he secured the nomination.
Now that he’s in a primary fight to save his U.S. Senate job, McCain is back courting the right wing in Arizona on immigration, for example, latching onto far right positions on border security that he previously shunned and embracing the radical call to repeal the 14th Amendment. Today on a local Arizona radio show, McCain went a bit further, promising a caller that he will never work with Democrats on immigration reform:
CALLER: I would like to ask Sen. McCain if he will make a promise on the air now that if we reelect him, he will not reach across the aisle, especially with Lindsey Graham, for comprehensive immigration reform. Will you not do that for the time you’re in office.
MCCAIN: Yes ma’am. … I am promising that I will try to address the issue of immigration in a way that is best for the United States of America.
Listen here:
McCain also used to publicly pride himself as a champion of bipartisanship. Here he is in July 2008 trying to be president:
But let me just finally say, Americans need trust and confidence in their government. The most important thing I would do, the most important of all, is what I have done all the years I’ve been in the Congress. I’d reach across the aisle to the Democrats, and I’d say, “Let’s go work together.”
And just last March, McCain attacked the Obama administration for allegedly not working with the minority party:
So there’s never been any genuine outreach on the part of this administration to work in a bipartisan fashion. As you mentioned, I’ve been involved in bipartisan issues. It is not there. And it is compounded by the fundamental fact that America is a right-of-center nation, and this administration is governing from the left.
First, the senior Arizona senator abandoned comprehensive immigration reform, and now bipartisanship. Looks like the same old John McCain.