Monday, February 18, 2008

McCain's Secret, Ctd.   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

Chait's colleague Christopher Orr flays McCain for flip-flopping on torture, immigration, and ethanol. McCain makes a plausible argument that he didn't flip-flop on torture. On immigration he hasn't really flip-flopped: He still supports a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants. But it's the supposed flip-flop on ethanol is the weakest part of the indictment. McCain has been rock solid in his opposition to ethanol subsidies while noting that the worth of ethanol goes up and down depending on market conditions.

Ethanol subsidies belongs to a class of political issues where McCain seems most likely to stand on principle. He wouldn't budge on bailouts for the car industry when he campaigned in Michigan, on ethanol in Iowa, on the catastrophic fund in Florida, or on dairy subsidies in Wisconsin. The elevation of parochial interests over the national interest seems to bring out the moralist in him.

02/18 01:24 PMShare