Each Day a New Beginning

You have to admire John McCain's commitment to change. He does it every day. If you didn't like his policies yesterday, don't sweat it. As long as his poll numbers are changing for the worse on one day, you can count on new attitudes to fundamental issues the next day.

Mark Halperin has assembled some pithy quotes from various sources about how Johnny "I was against Government Intervention before I was for It" McCain is recasting himself after the decline of his poll numbers in the wake of the financial crisis.

In an article that documents how McCain recklessly supported the deregulation of the industries that led to the current economic calamity, The Washington Post observes:

The Republican presidential nominee is scrambling to recast himself as a champion of regulation to end ‘reckless conduct, corruption and unbridled greed’ on Wall Street.

Now, in case we're tempted to believe that McCain is repositioning himself because of his recognition that he has spent his lifetime supporting pig-headed and dangerous economic policies, The Los Angeles Times reassures us that it's just a simple cynical ploy to bolster his sagging poll numbers:

Under fire for his assertion that the American economy is fundamentally sound, John McCain moved Tuesday to assure voters of his empathy and accused Barack Obama of attempting to take political advantage of the roiling Wall Street crisis.

Well, John, Barack Obama's lifetime of commitment to the weakest members of society is taking political advantage, but your conversion to Democratic economic policies in the midst of an economic crisis during a presidential campaign is a principled stand. Oh.