McCain Interview

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain was interviewed for an hour today on Fox by conservative commentator Sean Hannity. The lengthy discussion provided a window into McCain's thinking and his approach to the upcoming election battle against Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Personally, McCain projected an earnest image. Throughout the interview his temperament was even and under control. He was engaged and smiled a lot. He took pains to show a gentlemanly respect for opposing views and for his potential opponents. He complimented both Obama and Clinton and referred to them as people of integrity. When Hannity tried to goad him into personal attacks on the Democrats McCain said that isn't the kind of campaign the American people want. He stated over and over that his problem with them was over their basic approach to governing, that they were "liberal Democrats" while he is a "conservative Republican." He defined his conservatism as the view that "least government is best government."

On taxes, McCain emphasized his support for making the Bush tax cuts permanent. When Hannity asked why he hadn't supported them in 2001 and 2003 McCain said it was because they weren't accompanied by commensurate spending cuts to balance the budget. McCain said he would address this by vetoing any bills with earmark expenditures passed to him as president. He said he will allow no "bridges to nowhere." He said these earmarks amounted to $35 billion over the past two years of appropriations. It should be noted that this year's projected federal deficit is $400 billion. Refusing the earmarks and leaving the tax structure in place would have reduced the deficit this year by a little over 4%, to $383 billion. It is clear that McCain is looking forward to running as the candidate who will keep taxes low and paint the Democrat as someone who will raise them.

On Iraq, McCain repreated his firm stance in support of continuing the war. He said a U.S. withdrawal would lead to chaos in the country that could result in al Qaeda seizing control. An American "retreat" would be trumpeted as an al Qaeda victory which would embolden them to "follow us home and attack us here."

On energy, the Arizona senator painted the issue in national security terms. We send $400 billion a year to "countries that don't like us very well, and some of that money finds its way into the hands of terrorists." He supports a rapid expansion of nuclear power, pointing out that over 70% of France's electricity comes from nuclear power plants. He cited the experience of the Navy to say that nuclear power is safe, mentioning that the Navy has used nuclear power in its submarines and many other ships for forty years without an accident. He favored other energy developments such as hybrid cars and solar cells. Unlike many other Republicans, he opposes drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve, calling it a "pristine" area that should be shielded from development. And again unlike many in his party he believes that global warming is a real threat and that using alternative energy sources can help restrain it.

McCain defended his support for McCain-Feingold controls on advocacy campaigns, saying he helped conduct the Abramoff investigation and that he has seen the corrupting effects of money on the political system. He did quickly say he was against the "fairness doctrine," though, a former broadcast regulation repealed in the Reagan years that used to require balanced reporting or equal time to opposing viewpoints. Both he and his interviewer agreed such a rule would mean the end of shows like Sean Hannity's.

On immigration, Hannity asked about "McCain-Kennedy," the defeated immigration bill. McCain said he had gotten the message that the American people want "border control first." In response to another question about the suspicions some conservatives have about McCain's efforts to reach across the aisle to craft compromises, McCain said he is willing to talk to anyone and can work with members of both parties, though he stressed that he can always be counted on to defend his conservative principles. It would be interesting to see a debate between McCain and Obama on bipartisanship.

All in all McCain acquitted himself quite well. He certainly displays more flexibility than most congressional Republicans, which is one reason he will make a strong candidate in the general election this fall. He will try to appeal to conservatives on the war and taxes and to moderates on the environment and bipartisanship. It will be most interesting to see how this starts to play out.