CT Blue

Via Thinkprogress:

Yesterday during an interview with the Denver Post, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed, “I will not and have never supported renegotiating the Colorado River Compact,” an agreement that “governs how seven Western states, including Colorado and Arizona, share the Colorado River“:

MCCAIN: And by the way, whatever misinterpretation there may have been, I will not and have never supported renegotiating the Colorado River Compact. … Never, Never would I support a renegotiation of the Colorado River Compact. Please. No. Got it?

But in August, McCain did exactly that. He told the Pueblo Chieftain that the compact “obviously, needs to be renegotiated“:

MCCAIN: I don’t think there’s any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties.

Now, I know nothing about the compact, and have no idea whether it should be renegotiated. But the above quote, taken in the context of a number of statements in recent weeks in which McCain has tailored his positions to suit his audience, often in direct contradiction to what he has said to others (e.g., here), leaves us with two alternatives regarding the straight talker:

1. He will say whatever he must say to please his immediate audience, and is fully conscious of that fact. If we accept this alternative, then McCain is one of the most deeply dishonest persons ever to run for the office. Sure, they all trim their language a bit to suit the audience, but this isn’t trimming. This is chronic lying.

2. The alternative is that McCain has descended so far into senility that he really doesn’t know what he is saying from one moment, or one day, to the next.

I’m not sure which is worse. It pains me to say that it is probably better to have a chronic liar for president, rather than a man mired in dementia, especially with the airhead Palin waiting in the wings.

There is a third alternative, a sort of middle ground between the two. Perhaps McCain’s mind is relatively sound, but he just doesn’t care to keep track of his positions, preferring instead to say whatever his audience wants to hear at any given time. That theory would lead us to conclude that he is not, strictly speaking, a liar. It would however, reveal him as a deeply cynical and unprincipled human being. Nowadays, on the national lever, there’s another name for that type of person. They’re called “Republicans”.