People (and by "People," here, I clearly just mean me) have never liked John McCain for his independence. We (I) liked him because, in being independent, he took positions we (I) agreed with, in opposition to his own party (they) who we (I) do not generally like.

By comparison, Barack Obama being a "fierce independent" would be terrible, as that would just mean there are lots of issues he was wrong on.

Don't get me wrong. There's plenty of space in the middle for pragmatism. There's plenty of space in the middle for figuring out what works and getting things done. But on core values? On moral issues? We (I) are (am) always right (mostly always right).

Let's talk about why John McCain used to be awesome and now is not:

1. Nice Guy. The first and most important reason that folks were partial to McCain was that he showed up on TV a lot, cracked jokes, talked about the importance of straight-talk and public service, and generally came across as a good guy. (See also "War Hero.") No objections to any of that, except for...

   Well, we'll talk straight talk in a second. But first...

2. Campaign Finance Reform. When John McCain championed campaign finance reform, he was making a sincere effort to clean up Washington. He was trying to take the special interest money out of politics.

   Now, things didn't work out quite the way he wanted them to. His campaign finance reform laws led directly to the creation of "527" third-party muck machines like the Orwellian "Swiftboathers for Truth." Well, thanks largely to the internet, we're getting more media savy as a culture, and I think our Democracy will survive. Points to McCain for effort.

3. Tax Cuts. Now's where we get into the weeds. McCain earned big points in 2000 by objecting to how heavily George Bush's tax cuts skewed to the rich. Like Obama today, McCain of 2000 believed that the bulk of all tax cuts should go to the middle class and working families. After George Bush got elected and proposed these same tax cuts, McCain offered a more moderate counter-proposal that was more fiscally responsible. Points to McCain.

   Of course, all these years later, not only is McCain supporting the same tax cuts he once opposed, he's also recommending new tax cuts that (naturally) skew heavily to the rich.

4. The Iraq War. Okay, so he voted for the war. Heck, if everyone in Washington had died of Anthrax poisoning in 2002 and I was elected to Congress, I might have voted for the war back then too. It really seemed like Sadam has hiding something. So I don't hold McCain's war vote against him. Further, I applaud his years of criticism of the Bush administration's failed policies in Iraq. In fact, if the Bush administration had followed John McCain's advice and sent in more troops in 2003 and 2004, I'm sure we wouldn't be where we are today.

   (Mind you, if they followed Barack Obama's advice in 2002 and 2003, they wouldn't have been where they were in 2003 and 2004 to need to follow John McCain's advice...)

   Now, of course, John McCain advocates a "let's wait and see and then wait and see some more" approach. He's for permanent bases and staying for decades once the violence stops. Of course, he doesn't seem to know how long the violence might go on for.

   As John Kerry famously once said (but not while running for President, because that part of his soul had died by then), "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

5. Torture and Detainee Rights. McCain used to be against torture, most famously while he was being tortured. Now he's opposing bills to outlaw water boarding and expressing outrage that give terror suspects the same rights as American serial killers.

   Has the Supreme Court cost American lives with their ruling? Well, if my math is correct, more Americans soldiers have died in Iraq than in all acts of Islamic terrorism against Americans in our nation's history, including 9/11, the original World Trade Center Bombing, the Embassy Bombings, down the line. Over 4,000 American soldiers have died, and we're less safe now than we were on September 12th, 2001.

   I'm sorry, what was I talking about? Oh right: We went to war over faulty intelligence, but we're so sure our intelligence is right on the detainees at Gitmo that we KNOW that they're terrorists, and we can't possibly afford them the same right to a trial by jury that we routinely afford to meth dealers, rapists, child rapists, and canibalistic serial killers.

   Right. Moving on.

6. Immigration Reform. Bush wanted comprehensive immigration reform. Great! So did McCain. Points for McCain! Then the politcal winds shifted. Technically, McCain's position here is that he still wants comprehensive immigration reform, but he doesn't think it will happen, so he's going to focus on enforcement only.

   That's what we like to see in a President! Relentless optimism defeatism!

7. Agents of Intolerance. After making a big stand against religious hate speech in 2000, McCain eventually decided that "agents of intolerance" like Jerry Fallwell weren't so bad. This election cycle, he's positively desperate for religous endorsements, as evidenced by how poorly he vets these people before he accepts said endorsements. With Hagee and Parsley, it's like watching "Agents of Intolerance: The Big-Budget Hollywood Remake."

   At least Obama was sticking with Wright out of some degree of personal loyalty and affection. Dude baptized dude's kids. McCain barely knows these guys, and yet he's eager to overlook their hate speech if it helps him curry favor with their supporters.

   I don't know whether John McCain has changed positions out of political expedience or whether he genuinely believes he's doing the right thing (or whether he's convinced himself he's doing the right thing, because that's the politically expedient thing to do), but McCain isn't the same guy he was in 2000 or even as recently as mid-2007.

In addition to being wrong on taxes, war, torture, human rights, cannibals, immigration, and hate speech, McCain is also wrong on health care, on the economy, on education, on stem-cell research and the abortion issue, on Supreme Court appointments, on gay rights, on veteran's rights...

When Americans (I) say they (I) want a "fierce independent," what we (I) really mean is "someone who is fiercely not a Republican." And while it would be nice if John McCain were still vying for that title, it's probably just easier (and better for the entire human race) if we (we) simply vote Democratic this year.