AP PHOTO/MANUEL BALCE CENETA
AGING
BULL
ers, obviously, I say yeah.”
Many conservatives will see
McCain’s eagerness to work with
Democrats as more evidence that
he is not really one of them. Others will think he is just trying to
get back in the good graces of establishment Washington after a
few years in the wilderness.
“We’re misreading John McCain,” said Steve Clemons,
Washington editor-at-large for
The Atlantic. “He is not out
there trying to relaunch himself
and become a warmer and fuzzier version of a John McCain that
became cranky and difficult.
“I think he is just someone who
is complex,” Clemons said.
It’s most likely that McCain’s obvious distaste for being
thought of as a partisan stems
from his view that it is less honorable than being a principled
and independent actor. McCain
wrote in his 2000 book, Faith of
My Fathers that his father and
grandfather — both of them fourstar admirals in the U.S. Navy —
“were not men of spotless virtue,
but they were honest, brave and
loyal all their lives.”
Earning their respect, he
wrote, was “the most lasting ambition of my life.”
HUFFINGTON
03.31.13
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-D.C.)
Nowhere is McCain’s unique
political role more clearly
illustrated than in the current
immigration fight.
He may not be able to win over
grassroots voters in the same way
as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.),
the 41-year-old star politician
who has wowed fans and critics
with his successful outreach to
the GOP base on the issue. McCain, by contrast, is likely to turn
off more conservatives than he
brings on board, and his 2008
run has made him a more partisan figure in the eyes of many
Sen. Marco
Rubio at
a news
conference
for a balanced
budget
proposal
in 2011.