McCain pulls a "tell me what I'm supposed to think so I can think it"

This article exemplifies why McCain the candidate is a far cry from McCain the Senator. He is no longer the Maverick, he has become the guy who asks what he's supposed to say before he says anything. McCain the independent, the Maverick, would not be an awful President. He wouldn't be ideal, nor would he bring on the apocalypse. The question though is if elected would McCain be himself, or would he govern as McCain the Republican candidate?

McCain used to be someone you could count on to speak his mind honestly. To do what he believed was right. That man would make an OK President, and when he got things wrong he would do so for the right reasons. You wouldn't feel slimy after hearing him speak. Honest errors would be made, but you wouldn't feel like America had made a wrong turn down a dark ally, just a misstep. I still would prefer either Obama or Clinton to McCain the Senator as President, but he wouldn't scare me.

McCain the candidate is a different story altogether, an abomination. He does as the conservative right tells him to, and would be a horrific President for it. We have had 8 years of a puppet for the conservative wing of the Republican party and it has resulted in 8 awful years for this country. McCain the candidate simply offers more of the same. More of the failed policies of the extreme right, more of the constant feeling of manipulation and abuse. If McCain gets elected I can only hope and pray that he governs as McCain the Senator, not the candidate.

What would be really nice is a race of McCain the Senator versus Obama. It would be a race of ideas, of positive visions for the future. It would not be a race of manipulation, triangulation and an effort to win 50.01% of the vote. Obama appears to be edging out a lead in the Democratic primary. We can only hope that McCain the primary candidate fades away, either to the unlikely Huckabee upset....or to McCain the Senator.