Interesting Liberal Analysis of John McCain

There is something to be said for judging a man by how his enemies describe him. Not in the sense of trusting the lies of ones foes, but in trusting an enemy to be less likely than a friend to "shade" or "spin" facts to your advantage. This article is intended as a wake-up call to Liberals who might vote for McCain - a warning that he is a Conservative. But it makes a number of good points about the man that are worth considering.

On his release, he used second his wife's fortune to run to as a Republican senator. He was a standard-issue Reaganite corporate Republican n until the Keating Five corruption scandal consumed him. In 1987, it was revealed that McCain, along with four other senators, had taken huge campaign donations from a fraudster called Charles Keating. In return they pressured government regulators not to look too hard into Keating's affairs, allowing him to commit even more fraud. McCain later admitted: "I did it for no other reason than I valued [Keating's] support."

McCain took the only course that could possibly preserve his reputation: He turned the scandal into a debate about the political system, rather than his own personal corruption. He said it showed how "we need to drive the special interests out of Washington," and became a high-profile campaigner for campaign finance reform.

I truly believe if John McCain is the nominee, we will see a repeat of the Bob Dole campaign of 1996, but with a candidate who will actually lose his temper. Still, it is good to be reminded of the real history of John McCain - good and bad - rather than the imagined history generally communicated by the media.