During the 2000 Republican primaries John McCain made his mark in Presidential politics by opposing ethanol subsidies… in Iowa! This ballsy move, while killing his chances in Iowa in a single instance, helped him become everyone’s “maverick” darling, and secure a victory in the New Hampshire primary that same year.
Indeed, not only did McCain tell Iowans he opposed ethanol subsidies, which contribute billions every year to Iowa’s economy, he didn’t hold back in bashing them. Four years later he remained consistent in his opposition to ethanol subsidies and continued to bash them, saying in November of 2003 “ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality.”
Flash forward to 2006 and this Presidential election. McCain is running again and this time he actually wants to have a chance of at least doing decently in Iowa and as a result he commits one of the most absurd flip-flops in the history of American politics.
“I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects,” McCain said in a speech in Iowa during August of last year.
So, McCain not only went from being passionately opposed to ethanol to supporting it, but to passionately supporting it and making himself out to be a ’strong’ supporter of ethanol. That’s a 180 degree turn for the “Straight Talk Express.”
Iowa loves ethanol. McCain didn’t. That won’t play there. So the “Straight Talk Express” took a detour.
That’s what happened.
But it gets worse, much worse, because that all changed and McCain’s flip-flop went from being absurd to epic when in October of this year, during the CNBC/WSJ Republican debate, he stated “I still don’t support the subsidies. And I don’t think we need them. And I think we ought to have sugar cane-based ethanol into this country. And I don’t think that subsidies are the answer.”
What more can be said? I could talk about how he claims he “still” opposes ethanol subsidies, as if he always did, ignoring his 2006 flip-flop. I could stress just how epic this flip-flop is — the fact that he did a 180 on ethanol and then circled right back to where he was before. That’s a full 360. I could talk about why he did it: The so-called “Straight Talk Express” took a detour for political gain by flip-flopping on ethanol and then when they realized there was no chance of them doing well in Iowa despite the flip-flop they got back on the main road, also for political gain. They knew by doing so they had a better shot of winning over New Hampshire voters and recapturing that “maverick” magic that led them to their 2000 New Hampshire primary win.
But they won’t, and in the end, it’s just embarrassing.
Giuliani and Romney have gotten a lot of flack of their flip-flopping, and rightfully so, but they can’t hold a candle to John McCain’s epic ethanol flip-flop.
