It's not that simple. McCain still feels that the Republican Party represents his views better than the Democrats do, but he can do a lot more to hamstring the Carl Rove wing of the Republican party as a Republican than he could as a Democrat--where he'd never be completely trusted anyway and probably never have the influence in the Senate that he does now.Darth Wong wrote:McCain is like a disgruntled Catholic. He's worked up enough moral courage to speak his mind about the atrocious practices of the organization, but he still dutifully goes to Mass.
McCain endorsed Bush because doing otherwise would have been political suicide. The Republicans couldn't outright expel him, but they could put the party backing behind a challenger in the primary the next time he's up for reelection (look what the hard right did to Arlen Specter in PA for not being sufficiently conservative for them, even AFTER he got George Bush's endorsement and imagine what they'd do to McCain with the official GOP backing them). McCain would find himself isolated on the Senate floor, with his bills and amendments mysteriously dying in committee (committes to which, strangely, Bill Frist wouldn't appoint him despite his seniority), and if they did make it through committee, they'd never get to the floor for a vote. I'm sure John McCain likes endorsing George Bush about as much as I like voting for John Kerry, but he's doing it because he doesn't have any other options. It does nobody but Karl Rove any good for McCain to stick to his principles here.
And frankly, from what I understand, John McCain loves being a fly in George Bush's ointment, and he can be a much bigger fly inside Bush's party than he can outside it. Bush and the Republican Party need McCain as much as they dislike him (he's immensely popular and powerful), and so long as McCain doesn't give them an excuse to ostracize him, they have to live with him. If McCain switched parties, he'd be just another rabid Bush bashing Democrat who could be safely ignored.
