What happened to McCain?

Arizona Republican Senator and Presidential-hopeful, John McCain, used to be known as a maverick to many righties. Whenever the majority of Republicans sided either for or against a particular bill, it wasn't a rarity to see John McCain's name voting with the other side. Just a year ago, I blogged about how I wanted to see the Republican McCain and the Democrat Russ Feingold (senator of Wisconsin) to run for the '08 presidency. A lot has happened since that time and like many others, I have no idea who McCain is, what he stands for, and what his intentions are if he were to become president.

Because of his "maverick"-like image to many on the right, McCain obviously wanted to garner some steadier support from his conservative base. But, through that, he has lost support from the moderates on both sides, the Democrats, and Independents. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani was up by over 20 percentage points in the last poll I viewed (over McCain). McCain has been insistent on the Iraq troop surge. In fact, he's really the one that got the ball rolling on that topic at all. Just recently, he called for the reversal of Roe vs. Wade. While McCain may think that this is aiding him with his conservative base, I think this change in attitude and ideal will only hurt the senator's chances in the '08 election. Because, now that we've seen a completely different John McCain than we're used to, how will the majority buy into his new act? How much will they buy? Even of his conservative base, who is going to believe the supposedly renewed and ultra-conservative John McCain? Sure, the other McCain's plan failed in his run up to the presidency, but he still had his supporters on both aisles of the political spectrum. Before this sudden transformation, he and Guiliani were neck and neck in most polls, with Guiliani up by only a couple to a few points. This "rebirth" for the Arizona senator has ultimately doomed any hopes or chances he has of becoming president in '09. Knowing that the public isn't buying his new act, he could attempt to transform into his old "maverick"-self, but then that would confuse the public even more. I don't know what happened, but as of right now, John McCain may want to think more about joining Rush Limbaugh on a radio show than about the presidency.