The Real John McCain

Vanity Fair's McCain Illustration by Edward Sorel

In the past decade Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has gone from honored veteran and respected legislative “maverick” to the most blatant political hypocrite in recent history. His constant two-faced stands on issues from immigration to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and outright grumpy persona have caused even the most ardent supporters to withdraw their support and even question the Senator’s sanity.

In the November isssue of Vanity Fair, Todd Purdum reports:

“Desperate to keep his Senate seat, John McCain repudiated his record, his principles, and even his maverick reputation, entrenching himself as the anti-Obama. Which raises the issue of whether the leader so many Americans admired — and so many journalists covered — ever truly existed.”

But Purdum speculates that maybe the McCain we now know was there all along and that he was playing a calculated game all along:

“It’s quite possible that nothing at all has changed about John McCain, a ruthless and self-centered survivor who endured five and a half years in captivity in North Vietnam, and who once told Torie Clarke that his favorite animal was the rat, because it is cunning and eats well. It’s possible to see McCain’s entire career as the story of a man who has lived in the moment, who has never stood for any overriding philosophy in any consistent way, and who has been willing to do all that it takes to get whatever it is he wants. He himself said, in the thick of his battle with Hayworth, ‘I’ve always done whatever’s necessary to win.’ Maybe the rest of us just misunderstood.”

Read the entire article here.