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brush

(53,467 posts)
3. Oh, please. Just look at his overall voting record...for example on the tax scam.
Mon May 21, 2018, 11:42 PM
May 2018

He postures on the senate floor as a reasonable sounding statesman often on topical issues but gets in lockstep and votes the right wing party line 99% of the time with few exceptions.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
5. Depends upon how you describe rightwing.
Mon May 21, 2018, 11:48 PM
May 2018

If you describe it as arch conservative and militaristic, then McCain is part of it. If you describe it as antagonistic toward the idea of racial and gender equality, and having significant totalitarian tendencies, then neither McCain, nor either Bush - with all their faults, are part of it.

BlueTsunami2018

(3,461 posts)
6. He's definitely right wing by conventional standards.
Mon May 21, 2018, 11:52 PM
May 2018

That he’s not a full on teabagging fascist doesn’t change that.

His voting record tells the tale.

JI7

(89,172 posts)
8. McCain is a Conservative but not right wing
Tue May 22, 2018, 12:49 AM
May 2018

he might have been right wing in the 80s .

but these days right wing means full on bigotry like the KKK .

Zambero

(8,954 posts)
10. Similar to Goldwater
Tue May 22, 2018, 02:23 AM
May 2018

Another AZ senator who could have been accurately described as being right-wing in the 50's & 60's and then moved toward the center as his party continued to veer right.

Garrett78

(10,721 posts)
9. That McCain is considered by some to be "moderate" goes to show how nutty the GOP has become.
Tue May 22, 2018, 01:14 AM
May 2018

Because John McCain is pretty damn far to the right if you ask me.

Laffy Kat

(16,354 posts)
12. He is anti-choice and thought employers should be able to deny ins. contraception coverage.
Tue May 22, 2018, 02:46 AM
May 2018

Yes, he's RW.

JHB

(37,128 posts)
13. It depends on how you define as right wing, and how the other person does
Tue May 22, 2018, 04:00 AM
May 2018

As to that likely difference in perspective, consider how far the Overton window -- the range of what viewpoints counts as "reasonable" vs "extreme" -- has been pushed rightward over the past several decades.

Just about every conservative these days holds positions that were considered right-wing in the not too distant past.

Also, don't discount the environment he has to operate in, as it affects is actions. For instance, Nixon was a conservative, but did liberal things like start the EPA because the political environment he had to operate in made that a reasonable move, rather than the ideological treason current conservatives would consider such an action.

Conservatives have been miring the Republicans deeper and deeper in guano for several decades now, encouraging it to provide their margin of victory. That's the pool McCain swims in, and he acts accordingly, even if he isn't a full-time foamer.

There isn't a sharp boundary between them, there's a blur.

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