McCain's straight-talking image called into question

WASHINGTON --Has the "Straight Talk Express" veered to the right?

Sen. John McCain says no -- he's always been conservative. But the fact that the Arizona Republican is facing pointed questions about his positions on Iraq, immigration, abortion, taxes and other hot-button issues underscores his biggest political problem: He is a front-runner.

As he prepares for a likely 2008 presidential race, Democratic and Republican critics are watching McCain's every move for signs he is forsaking his image as an independent-thinking maverick who named his 2000 campaign bus "The Straight Talk Express."

Some called it pandering when he campaigned on Bush's behalf in 2004 just four years after their bitter nomination fight. McCain said he was simply backing his party's leader.

Skeptics called it a flip-flop when the Arizona senator voted in February to extend Bush's tax cuts on dividends and capital gains, which he once had opposed. McCain said ending the tax cuts would be tantamount to raising taxes, something he has never done.

More recently, he made peace with Jerry Falwell, the controversial evangelist whom he had lumped in with other "agents of intolerance" in a 2000 campaign speech. "We agreed to disagree on certain issues," McCain said Sunday on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" program.

Dismissing the broader pandering charges, McCain said Tuesday: "People will continue to see I stand up for what I believe."

While his voting record is clearly right-of-center, McCain has not been afraid to tick off conservatives. His positions on immigration, torture and a political reform put him at odds with the GOP base.

He supports the war in Iraq, but has criticized Bush's handling of it.

The scrutiny is a far cry from 2000 nomination fight when McCain was an underdog candidate who emerged from below the radar to give Bush -- that year's GOP front-runner -- a scare. The difference this time is that McCain's plan for securing the GOP nomination in 2008 hinges on selling himself as the establishment candidate.

That means he needs to win the approval of conservative voters he alienated in 2000 and who never have quite trusted him.

The trick is doing so without destroying the one thing that sets McCain apart from most other politicians: his reputation for authenticity.

As conservative voters decide whether he's really one of them, the rest of the electorate will want to know whether McCain actually is a straight shooter.

"He's under a lot of pressure this time to appeal to the right," said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor. "But the danger is he could go from the Straight Talk Express to the same old obfuscation -- to use a nice word for a barnyard epithet."

The actual epithet was hurled at McCain on Tuesday from a crowd of union activists who challenged him on immigration, Iraq and his support of organized labor.

His appearance before the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department was a colorful and contentious session, producing as many laughs as boos, that tested the limits of straight talk.

It began with a chorus of boos when McCain mentioned his support of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican. Shrugging off the reaction, McCain said somebody came up to him at the Schwarzenegger event and said, "Do people tell you look like John McCain?"

"Yes, they do."

"Doesn't that make you madder than hell?"

Later, the senator outlined his position on the Senate immigration debate, saying tougher border enforcement must be accompanied by guest-worker provisions that give illegal immigrants a legal path toward citizenship.

Murmurs from the crowd turned to booing. "Pay a decent wage!" one audience member shouted. McCain curtly threatened to cut the speech short, which quieted the crowd.

In the speech, McCain also argued that withdrawing U.S. troops prematurely from Iraq would turn terrorists loose on the United States.

That's when one audience member unleashed the barnyard epithet.

McCain got another laugh when he finished the speech and asked whether anybody had "questions, comments or insults." One audience member obliged with a pointed question on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain's job offer.

"I'll take it!" one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. "You can't do it, my friends."

Some in the crowd said they didn't appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.

"I was impressed with his comedy routine and ability to tap dance without music. But I was impressed with nothing else about him," said John Wasniewski of Milwaukee.

"He's supposed to be Mr. Straight Talk?"

Others said McCain showed some moxie, if not the best political judgment.

"Most of us don't agree with him on immigration," said another man from Milwaukee, Chris Schoenbeck. "But I give him credit for trying."

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EDITOR'S NOTE -- Ron Fournier has covered national politics for The Associated Press since 1992.