Legal Commentary

Josh Marshall links to this March 2007 story from The Hill regarding John McCain's flirtation with leaving the Republican Party back in 2001. I remember that at the time there were such rumors (I was living in DC and reading the WaPo religiously in the first half of 2001, so it was hard to miss).

The story in The Hill runs through all sorts of specific recollections of Democratic participants in the attempt to get McCain to leave, which would have thrown the Senate into Democratic hands (of course, Jim Jeffords beat him to the punch--probably the only time that could ever be said about Jeffords and McCain).  There are the obligatory denials by the McCain camp; McCain is, after all, busily trying to win over base Republicans. You can make up your own mind, but the story seems both plausible and well documented to me.

I thought this passage, characterizing/quoting former Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle's  book, is particularly revealing:

On page 62, Daschle wrote that McCain and Chafee ?seemed like real possibilities? to bolt their party. He pointed out that few, if any, of McCain?s people were hired by the Bush administration.

?John didn?t think that was right,? Daschle wrote, ?that his staff should be penalized like that.?

Chafee confirmed to The Hill this week that he had meetings with Democrats about changing parties in 2001 because he was ?alarmed? at the differences between President Bush?s campaign promises and the policies coming out of his administration.

Got that? McCain: I might leave because Bush isn't giving my guys enough patronage. Chafee: I might leave because Bush's policies are so bad.

Of course, the bit about McCain is a Daschle quote, not a McCain statement. And of course, neither Senator left the GOP, which I guess tells you plenty about both men's priorities.

It makes sense to me that McCain's motivation, if Daschle's right, would be more personal than policy-based. McCain has never been the moderate that some people think--he's always been a pretty down-the-line right-wing guy, with few exceptions. It's only as a tribute to the debased nature of both the contemporary GOP and our political discourse that (sort of) opposing torture and (initially, though no longer) opposing foolish tax cuts for the wealthy earns McCain the moniker of "maverick".

When McCain characterizes himself, as he's been doing at least since the 2000 campaign, as a "loyal footsoldier in the Reagan Revolution", it's not some sort of Romney-esque sleight of tongue. He means it, because it's true. The guy is a real righty. In a party less in lock step obedience to its political dogma, I doubt McCain would stand out at all.

In any case, even if McCain did threaten to leave his party over petty stuff, I can't say that makes him much different from your typical modern politician. At the end of the day, I don't think he is much different from your typical modern politician. The competition is just poor.