1/27/2009

McCain: Flip-Flopping for Sport

From Think Progress: McCain Votes Against Geithner After Saying Last Week That He Would ‘Most Likely’ Support Him
Yesterday, the Senate confirmed former New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner as the new Treasury Secretary with a vote of 60 to 34.
(...)
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was among the 30 Senate Republicans who voted against Geithner. McCain’s nay vote is surprising, considering that he told Larry King last week that he would “most likely” support Geithner’s confirmation:
KING: His first full day, he convened a meeting of the economic advisers. Still no Treasury secretary. The Finance Committee approved Mr. Geithner’s nomination 18-5.

Do you think he’ll be confirmed by the full Senate?

MCCAIN: I do and I thought it was…

KING: Will you vote for him?

MCCAIN: Yes. Most likely.
Though McCain told King that he was “concerned about this tax issue and also the role that he played in the TARP,” he indicated that he would likely support Geithner because he believed that the president should “be able to appoint the president’s team.”
So suddenly he goes from "I'll vote for him" and "the President should be able to appoint the President's team" to "I'm not going to vote for him". And here I thought McCain was learning to be a class act. What could possibly make McCain change his mind so quickly? Is he being a "maverick" in regards to President Obama? Is he cleaving to right-wing ideals to support his continued existence as a Senator? Is he going senile?

Or maybe it's this:
But the nomination vote gave conservatives an opportunity to rail against Geithner, as conservative talk radio rallied a flood of calls to Capitol Hill on Monday opposing his nomination. A majority of Senate Republicans heeded those calls, making it clear that Geithner may have a credibility gap with the GOP.

Rush Limbaugh said earlier this month: “Timothy Geithner. I can't let this go. He's the Treasury secretary nominee, and he didn't pay taxes. … This is the drive-by [mainstream media] sentiment: … Geithner is a genius — he's going to save the economy of the entire world. So what if he doesn't pay his taxes? These are serious times. We need the man! “
Looks like folks like El Rushbo are still stinging over President Obama telling the GOPpers, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." The GOP apparently needs someone, anyone, in power to listen to who's white and rich, just like them, and with Dubya back in Texas where he can do very little damage between now and whenever people get the right idea and have him tried for war crimes, they're getting desperate.

Or it really could be that McCain just suddenly changed his mind on this, or he may have just been lying out his old ass the whole time. I don't know, I don't read minds.