Sen. McCain is ....?

I think that John McCain has been wrongly characterized by Rush Limbaugh and others in the conservative media as a "dirty
liberal Republican" or even as a "filthy moderate Republican". I think
he's very much a conservative. I looked at the website
www.ontheissues.org/johnmccain and looked at his votes and public
statements on various issues since 2004.
McCain says:
1] no new taxes to save Social Security
2] the Bush tax cuts were reckless and favor the rich, but he'll keep
them forever
3] has a 100% rating on pro free trade [how's that working out for the job market?]
4] voted yes on continuing to allow lobbyists to give gifts to Congressmen [that couldn't hurt us, could it?]
5] said that voters worry too much about corporations' influence on elections
6] strangely voted yes on establishing the Senate Office of Public
Integrity [he'll probably vote against the funding as a cost saving
measure]
7] opposes restrictions on assault weapons and types of ammo [ our police have got to love that!]
8] opposes background checks on folks who buy guns at gunshows
9] received a low 25% rating on public health issues
10] voted no on limiting the length of soldiers' deployments in war zone[ but he supports the troops]
11] voted no on habaeus corpus rights for detainees
12] voted no on requiring CIA to report on who they have detained
13] voted yes on the border fence [ except where it blocks the views of rich men playing golf in Texas]
14] yes on guest worker program
15] yes on allowing guest workers a path to citizenship
16] yes on allowing illegals immigrants to work on border fence
17] just kidding about #16
18] votes against unions and raising the minimum wage
19] opposes peace talks....with anyone
20] says Iraq is the central front in the global war on terrorism even though Osama bin Laden has been vacationing for the last five years in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
21] supports stem cell and fetal tissue research [for now...]
22] says prosecute abortion doctors not women
23] no to federal $$ for teen education on contraception and pregnancy[STD incidence in teenage girls has reached 25%]
24] supports overturn of Roe v. Wade
25] considered an erratic fiscal conservative, but will veto earmarks
26] voted to maintain tax benefits and subsidies for companies who
move jobs off shore[thanks John]
27] obtaining healthcare is all up to the individual and insurers
28] "don't ask, don't tell" is working just fine in the military
29] favors more death penalty convictions
30] voted to gut the budget of the Consumer Products Safety Commission
31] voted to limit awards in product safety liability cases
32] no oil drilling in the Arctic, but no to Kyoto Protocols
33] recently voted to allow the CIA to not follow Army Field Manual
instructions on use of torture. [but still insists he's opposed to the use of torture]
34] .... then immediately received the endorsement of the most
disreputable Republican members of Congress who had been wanting him to endorse "enhanced interrogation techniques"...torture.

As you can see, Sen. McCain has been unfairly criticized by the right wing of his party and the Conservative
media. He actually seems to be their kind of candidate. I think he's criticized because, in a fit of anger, the Senator once called Bill O'Reilly a "clownish
blowhard" and Ann Coulter an "attention greedy, grasping harpie"
....no, that can't be. But, just because there's no video of that doesn't mean he didn't do it....