Gerald McEntee at Huffington Post: McCain Is Not a Moderate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerald-mcentee/mccain-is-not-a-moderate_b_84546.html?view=print

Posted February 1, 2008 | 06:54 PM (EST)

Like all good Democrats, I was proud of last night's candidate debate in Los Angeles. It was substantive and about the issues and both candidates showed why it is so important that Democrats take back the White House for America's working families. While last night's event was between Senators Clinton and Obama, both clearly understand that the real contest, and the most serious challenge is the candidacy of John McCain.

The main obstacle to change in America is not within the Democratic Party, it's not Senator Obama and his supporters or Senator Clinton and hers. The biggest political danger facing our country is that the Republicans will put aside their deep ideological divisions and unite behind a single candidate. And the biggest electoral danger is that McCain will be able to sustain the myth that he is a "moderate" when his policies are just as extreme as our current president's. The truth is, McCain is no different than Bush, except he has a better biography and combat experience. And those differences, of course, are helpful at the ballot box.

While it's unbelievable today that Bush ran as a "compassionate conservative," our experience of his transformation into a right-wing extremist should remind us of the schoolyard taunt: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!"

We all know the truth - McCain is not a moderate. How did he vote on expanding Children's Health Insurance? He voted no - twice, in fact - in line with Bush and his party's leaders, even though 18 Republican senators voted yes. There's nothing moderate about standing in the way of kids' access to doctor visits and medical care. And McCain's health care platform is just like Bush's - he puts profits before patients and delivers us all up to the tender mercies of the pharmaceutical and insurance companies. How about his moderate position on Iraq? He says stay in Iraq, even if it takes 100 years.

FULL story at link.

Gerald McEntee is the President of my international union in D.C.