Tim did a fine job yesterday of reporting from the Center for American Progress' "McCain University," where think tank types detailed John McCain's more-conservative-then-widely-assumed positions on foreign policy, the environment, health care, and the economy. Kudos to CAP, my former employer, for putting the event together. But I do have to wonder -- where was the discussion of McCain's reactionary stances on social issues, from education, to reproductive health, to pay equity for women and minorities? CAP's own thinkers and writers have done great work on these issues, yet they weren't included at yesterday's event.
That was a missed opportunity, because McCain's reputation as a moderate is built in large part around the willingness he once had to critique his Party's evangelical Christian base on social issues. McCain once called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance." He once accepted Roe v. Wade as settled law. But the Republican nominee now forswears those positions, and is criss-crossing the nation to assure social conservatives that he'll be their friend when it comes to Supreme Court appointments and the like. And by the way -- those conservatives believe what they're hearing from McCain. We should too.
--Dana Goldstein
