The Maverick in his own words (2): How press corps "scripts" work

AGM-65 Maverick missiles on an A-10 Thunderbolt - maybe this is what Chris Matthews has in mind when he calls McCain a "Maverick"

The bold Maverick in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) on 02/07/08 said the following:

Surely, I have held other positions that have not met with widespread agreement from conservatives. I won't pretend otherwise nor would you permit me to forget it. On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which provoked the outspoken opposition of many conservatives, I stood my ground aware that my position would imperil my campaign. I respect your opposition for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. And while I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince Americans that we were. I accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration. (my emphasis)

When he mentioned the words "illegal immigration" there were some boos in the crowd. (Though, for what it's worth, professional hack David Brooks on the PBS Newshour for 02/08/08 said that he was near the front and couldn't hear the boos, which he claims were like 10 people in the back.) And the Maverick surely knew he could count on his adoring media fans to position that moment advantageously. The clip that I saw most featured was that moment, where the Straight Talker pauses and beams as he shows his Maverick side by boldly stating his disagreement with conservatives in front of them.

But how "maverick" was the Maverick at that moment? For those who followed the immigration debate and the obsessions of the nativist movement, the bolded sentence above contains the key phrase "secure our borders first", which is embracing the basic position of the nativist hardliners. He even says explicitly that he recognizes that he failed to convince enough people on the less draconian Bush-McCain approach which the rightwingers disliked. And he says he accepts that and embraces the "secure our borders first" slogan, which means in practice postponing indefinitely any serious effort to normalize the immigration situation with Mexico.

You would think that even a Big Pundit - a Wolf Blitzer, even - could understand what the Maverick is saying when he says he's stopped being a maverick on the issue and has adopted the rightwing position on that issue like he has on virtually every other! Well, you might think that. But you would be wrong.

Here's how Zachary Coile of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that moment in With Romney out, McCain must court GOP right 2/08/08:

"Many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions I have taken in recent years. I understand that. I might not agree with it, but I respect it for the principled position it is," he told the crowd.

"And it is my sincere hope that even if you believe I have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that I have, in many ways important to all of us, maintained the record of a conservative."

But many at the Conservative Political Action Conference said their concerns about McCain run much deeper than his immigration bill, which failed in the Senate last year in a bruising fight that nearly ended McCain's presidential bid. (my emphasis)

Let's leave aside for the moment whether pandering to nativist bigotry can count in any rational sense as a "principled position". From Zoile's reporting - and from most of the rest of it I've seen - you would never know that the Maverick had renounced the position that so disturbs the nativist right on immigration and had said so explicitly in the same paragraph Zoile quoted.

The press has so thoroughly coded McCain as the Maverick and Straight Talker that they plugged that moment of capitulation to the hard right on the immigration issue as evidence of the Straight Talkers principled independence.

Tags: establishment press, mccain, mainstream media, mainstream press