Miss America Conservatives

Mark Schmitt gets credit for the term, which I think is a wonderful way to describe many "maverick" conservatives--including John McCain:

Each of the so-called moderate Republicans seems to have a "platform" issue on which they break with the party, much like a Miss America contestant who chooses an issue that makes her seem thoughtful and altruistic, but as soon as the platform segment is over, she resumes her place in a degrading spectacle.

You can read more about how he developed this idea here. It seems like one that's as applicable to McCain on torture as it is to Gordon Smith on Medicaid, or Dominici on Mental Health Coverage. While it's certainly a good thing that McCain wants to pile on the administration concerning its torture policies now, why didn't he push his anti-torture legislation in the summer of 2004, when it our policies of extraordinary rendition and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib were already major scandals costing us credibility around the world? Reason, it wouldn't messed up McCain's future political prospects in the Bush's Republican party. Instead of sticking up not just for his principles but for his own experience of torture at the hands of the V.C., McCain aggressively campaigned for Bush's re-election. Only now does McCain want us to know that, even though he's a Republican, he's not in favor of torture.

What does he want? A cookie? Republicans aren't supposed to favor torture. If McCain had said that last sentence to Bush a year ago, when it might have mattered, I'd have been impressed. Now, it just reads like another Republican politician trying to look moderate and thoughtful in comparison with the administration. Oh, to be more thoughtful and moderate than G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Who can you brag to about that?