... on the Wishful Thinking Express.

McCain only pretends to have principles. He supported Bush in 2004. He lost my respect then.

unless one has personal knowledge of what Jon Stewart really thinks, isn't it a little arrogant to project who he loves and why?

I am really getting tired of Manjoo's man crushes.

Stop the nonsense, Farhad!

John McCain is NOT a Republican Bill Clinton. He is a conservative Republican. Avuncular and occassionally witty, but a Republican politician just the same. He is NOT GOOD for the future of America.

There's been no detour -- McCain's always been aboard the bullshit express, and he'll say and do anything to get to the White House. We're supposed to love him because he's a pretty slick salesman who looks good compared to the nutjobs and whackos that dominate his party?

Hey, I have little love left for the sold-out Democrats and their spineless front-runners, but anyone who supports McCain and doesn't realize that he's a Republican snake oil salesman who'll promote the same Republican bullshit is an idiot.

Stewart does make his living on the idiot box, so he's got an excuse. From what I've read, Manjoo, yours is that your a not-so-closeted Republican.

It sounds like someone's been run over by the "express." I'm not sure how a thinking person can still be riding that train after McCain's atrocious rollover on officially sanctioned American torture. Rather than actually standing up against the administration's systematic torture policy (for that's exactly what it is), McCain used the same window-dressing techniques that have proved so successful in persuading otherwise intelligent people like Farhad Manjoo that the Arizona senator is some kind of "maverick." Not only did McCain vote to approve the administration's chief torture apologist, Alberto Gonzales, as Attorney General, he then stood by silently as Bush plastered his anti-torture amendment with a "DOES NOT APPLY" signing statement. The sense of honor McCain defended so mightily in 1965 North Vietnam became just another political chit to hand over in Washington 2005. This is the kind of "independent" we should all hold up as an ideal? For shame.

...because he said so on the show. I wasn't guessing. You should watch it.

I confess that John McCain is not my political hero. I don't know why I'm supposed to be impressed because he has attained the role of decent Republican in the approved media story line. In any event, in view of his willingness to make nice with people who have treated him vilely, it is pretty obvious that his superpowers do not include pride.

Thing is, McCain's political maneuvers are no worse than those of many another. If I really thought that his rather hard-line version of conservatism were worth promoting, I wouldn't be bothered by his obvious hypocrisy. But one doesn't have to despise a guy to recognize that he is dead wrong on many an economic and social issue. That he isn't quite as barking mad as so many others in his party is a pretty mediocre recommendation.

I did not see the interview, but it doesn't sound particularly confrontational to me. The show is entertainment after all. Confrontation by Stewart would mean detailing the litany of false starts and position flips that McCain has mastered over the past decade. Confrontation would mean drilling McCain about his caving on torture, and his irrefutably hard right voting record.

I continue to be astonished by the degree to which people are willing to project on to McCain all sorts of positions and attitudes that he has never consistently demonstrated or effected.

What is a constant in McCain's political life is his unceasing desire to kiss up to far right interests (even after they thrash him, see, e.g., Bush 2000) in exchange for what he hopes will be their eventual annointment.

If I had watched that show that night, why would I have to bother to read you?

In any case, if what you say is true, I now have reason to reject Jon Stewart as another rotten judge of character, rather than someone who was indulging in his usual hyperbole.

because it seems that a bunch of people out there who seem to have made judgements about McCain without checking his voting record who are shocked he is actually a hard right social conservative...who ocassionally peeks out to say something brave...and then folds like a cheap suit when it matters.

One of the biggest problems we have is being unable to think of a decent republican who could believably run for POTUS. That's why so many of us get hung up on guys like McCain. To quote a bumper sticker I saw a few years ago, "Why vote for the lesser of two evils? Cthulu for President!"

If Stewart and Manjoo are still sweet on McCain, they haven't really been paying attention. What he said on Meet the Press was unequivocal. The guy is a whore. Are we supposed to vote for McCain while reading deep, consoling messages in his eyes? Puh-leeze. I voted for him in the Michigan primary but I've been disgusted with his tilt towards Bush and the Bushies in the last few years, and would never vote for him again. He's a whore, and Stewart was way too easy on him, as was this mash note.

If McShame had only recently detoured and made steps as the one toward Falwell, I could, possibly, accept Farhad's interpretation.

But since the 2004 campaign, McShame has made it a regular schedule for his formerly Straight Talk Express to stop in Bullshit (Bush-shit?) town. Such regularity suggests tht it is no longer a one-time deal but the preliminary for a contract between them.

You may lie with pigs while pinching your nose but, when you come out, you stink like a pig. Lies with pigs, stinks like a pig, grunts like a pig, hmmmm, must be a pig!

There you have it, McShame! for the low probability of getting the Fallwellites on your side, you are losing all those of us who once had respect for you

... but I'd like to attempt to respond to some of you. Of course, you guys are right, he is a conservative -- his voting record shows that. But that doesn't mean he's an extremist. And it doesn't mean he isn't moderate either. Conservativism is believing that you should reduce taxes. Extremism is shattering the national revenue stream. McCain believes in the first one. He doesn't in the second. (Though of course, as I noted in my earlier post, you don't know with his recent shift.)

As Stewart pointed out, McCain has been out in front of a lot of issues that many on the left have not even touched. He pushed for campaign finance reform far harder than the Clinton administration did (with Russ Feingold, of course). He pushed for tougher mileage standards harder than most Democrats did. He spearheaded the torture debate and got it to pass, and it's the law regardless of what Bush says at the signing. It wasn't John Kerry or Hillary Clinton out on those issues, it was McCain.

And right now he's pushing to allow illegal immigrants to get green cards. I don't see John Kerry doing that, either.

So that's why I respect him -- because he picks specific issues that are important and works hard on them.

This doesn't mean I'll vote for him. But I don't think it's fair to label him an extremist just because he's got a conservative voting record.