A maverick no more

BACK IN December, when we endorsed John McCain in the Republican presidential primaries, we wrote that he would conduct a campaign of "substance, not demagoguery." We didn't count on the other John McCain - the one who showed up for the general election. Whether in thrall to his handlers or his own ambition, McCain has abandoned respectful discussion of differences for a trough of pandering and invective.

Well before he won the nomination, McCain started trimming his principles to fit the requirements of the party's activist base. He reversed his opposition to the costly Bush tax cuts and now favors extending them. He abandoned his own thoughtful comprehensive immigration reform package and now focuses on border control. Most disturbing, perhaps, the man who was tortured in Vietnam supported Bush's veto of legislation banning torture by US intelligence agencies.

His reputation as a maverick, always a bit overburnished by his own retelling, is now in tatters.

McCain's alarming choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate came only after more moderate and experienced candidates whom McCain preferred were rejected by his operatives. The choice of Palin - whom we would find unqualified even if she didn't hold such extreme policy views - was a cynical ploy aimed at exciting ideological conservatives and luring disgruntled supporters of Hillary Clinton. McCain likes to complain that Democrat Barack Obama has never taken on his party leaders, but McCain can't even control his hired staff.

Campaigns are crucibles, and this one has revealed McCain to be erratic, out of touch with ordinary Americans, and, with Palin as his shotgun messenger, too quick with the sneer, smear, and division. He has been a profound disappointment, and he is unfit to lead the nation into its perilous future.