Olbermann on McCain's double talk

Last night, Keith Olbermann did a pretty good round-up of all the McCain reversals. Watch the video above, and as Keith suggests, you'd better have a pen and paper, (or a good, stiff martini) handy to get it all down, or to simply start laughing after a few minutes.

From Crooks and Liars:

[Some of John McCain's more noted reversals]...
• Political Reform
• Immigration
• Gay Marriage
• Abortion
• Nuclear Waste at Yucca Mountain
• Military actions against rogue states
• Negotiating with Kim Jong Il
• Negotiating with Castro
• Negotiating with Terrorists (acceptable in 2002 when Powell went to Syria. In 2006, McCain said sooner or later we'll talk to Hamas, not appropriate now)
• Unilateral action against suspected terrorists in Pakistan (Confused leadership with Obama, not with Bush)
• Warrantless Wiretapping
• Torturing Detainees
• Indefinitely Holding Detainees
• Iraq War
• Tax Cuts for the Rich
• Estate Tax
• Privatizing Social Security
• Balanced Budget
• Windfall Profits Tax
• Offshore Drilling
• Bush Fundraisers
• Jerry Falwell
• Pastor John Hagee
• MLK Jr. Holiday
• South Africa Divestment
• the Confederate Flag
• Alternatives to evolution being taught in schools

Wow, that's a pretty stunning achievement, even for a politician. I didn't know that someone could possibly stand for so little and while running for president. Talk about not taking a stand! We've been hearing Republicans piss and moan about Democratic candidates' reversals on issues for years (some of it fair, some of it taken out of context), but I'd like to know how they plan on explaining McCain's dozens and dozens of reversals away. The answer is that they can't - all Repubes can do is continue to bring up wedge-issue distractions like flag lapel pins, gay marriage, religion, evolution, abortion, ministers of ill repute and anything else that will (lamely) try to take Americans' minds off of just how poorly things are in the country right now, be it the economy, what passes for our foreign policy, our skyrocketing debt, our disaster in Iraq, runaway inflation, monstrous fuel prices, our crumbling infrastructure, etc. What's worse, the likes of Bush and McCain have few answers in how to get us out of this mess, a mess that their party bears a pretty nasty share of the responsibility for.

I'm willing to cut McCain some slack on a few of the above - after all, issues do evolve, and if you spend enough time in a deliberative body like the U.S. Senate, positions, like public opinion, can and will change over time. But, not in the span of 4-5 years, which is right around the time McCain no doubt decided that he's take another run at the presidency, so he'd better get his ideological (party line) votes in order. Enter John McBush, candidate for president who had to court the evangelical and far right wings of the party, so he could raise enough money and support to get the nomination.

Will the press cover these McCain flip flops? Fat chance, especially when Democrats are making noise about once again enforcing the Sherman Antitrust Act and re-instituting the Fairness Doctrine. I sure hope an Obama administration does both.

In the meantime, I certainly hope a vast majority of American voters aren't relying on our corporate media to form opinions and make informed decisions about the '08 election.

Major hat tip (h/t) to Crooks & Liars for compiling the exhaustive list of McCain flip flops - it couldn't have been easy.