Heck, he’s right on this one.

John McCain is claiming the “Eastern Media” is portraying him as changing his positions.  Oddly enough, there may be some legitimacy to this accusation.  John McCain hasn’t changed his positions, he’s just changing his rhetoric long enough to get re-elected before resuming his actual liberal positions in earnest.

Michelle Malkin has a huge list of his positions and history on her site today, along with more about McCain’s comments.  None of them are pretty.  But more importantly, none of them are being articulated by Senator Principles during his primary.  Why not?

He spent the whole Bush administration being a pain in the ass, and his stated reason was that he was taking principled stances for the good of the country regardless of whether or not it grated on his party.  Now the cracks in that spin are starting to show as he tries to get through a primary against a far more conservative opponent, and suddenly never considering himself a maverick is the order of the day.  The “eastern press” refutation here is him having to defend against a realization by the electorate that instead of being principled, he’s an independent in much the same way as Charlie Crist is an independent.  Only less orange.

Seriously, if his principles and positions haven’t changed, and this self-styled fighter believes them to be what’s best for the country, where’s the persuasion?  Why isn’t he championing cap-and-trade at the top of his principled lungs and giving cause to spawn more environmental superhero Captain Chipmunk parodies?  Doesn’t the planet still need saving?  Will we not all burn if something isn’t done?  Surely the economy is not a consideration for such a principled environmental position?

What about comprehensive immigration reform?  The Danged Maverick wasn’t talking about building The Danged Fence with Kennedy while illegal immigration was having the exact same effect on his home state it is today.  Was he not already paying attention to what was going on in Arizona before he “learned his lesson” and pretended to make more sense?

So yes, while I disagree that McCain’s positions have changed, what’s actually happening exposes his “independent” streak for what it is:  the politically calculated posturing of someone who didn’t know what he was doing.  The fact he’s trying to fake his way through a primary just hammers the point home.  His old positions were a political liability, which is why today he’s the ‘Non-Maverick Maverick’ and ‘Build the Danged Fence McCain-Kennedy co-author’ non-waffler.  These are political calculations that will change again once he’s safely re-elected.

IF he’s re-elected.