John McCain is Starting to Lose Independents

In the 2000 Republican Presidential Primary, I was rooting for John McCain. He was campaigning as someone who would not just follow the Republican line, but would do what was best for the country. Unfortunately it ultimately cost him the election because he was not "conservative enough" for many Republicans. In a speech given in Virginia just before their primary, he lambasted the religious right and individuals like Jerry Falwell. The results from the Primary were conclusive in that conservatives came out in droves to support George W. Bush. It appeared that history was going to repeat itself in 2008 when Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses over Mitt Romney and John McCain. It looked like McCain was going to win the independent vote, much as he did in 2000, but loose eventually to the more conservative candidate. However, McCain has been trying his best to gain the support of the conservatives and ease their fears that he would vote against them too often. This may be a strategy to gain conservative votes, but in the process, he is losing the support of independents that he will need to win the general election.

Looking at a few issues where McCain has changed his positions will show clearly that he is moving too much to the right for independents. The issues we will look at will be the Terrorism Debate, Abortion, Gay Marriage, Stem Cell research and tax cuts.