Is McCain the 'Maverick' Back?

McCain has been talking about the environment lately. Not exactly a GOP talking point. So is he trying to reestablish his maverick image?

I, for one, don't think so. He has pandered to the far right more often than not since beginning his bid for the presidency. Examples are countless but some of the more egregious ones include his acceptance of Bush's tax cuts (the same ones that "offended his conscience" 6 years ago), his unflagging support of the war in Iraq, and most appallingly his 180 on torture.

So the question is if he is willing to swallow something so personal as torture in his pursuit of the White House, why is he even bothering with something as 'non-issue' as the environment? Don't get me wrong, the environment is NOT a non-issue to me and to a great deal of democrats but to all the people who he has been working so hard to appeal to it seems like he could exhale carbon dioxide in a more productive way.

I don't think he is trying to reestablish himself as a maverick, though. I think his take on this issue is a product of a changing social and political atmosphere. One in which the stigma of radicalism attached to environmentalism is fading. Perhaps this is proof that all the work that has been done by left-wing kooks like Al Gore - not to mention many, many others - is actually having an impact.

There is no doubt that without the leftist environmental movement McCain most likely would not be talking about the environment, and spending valuable campaign resources to do so. But his is still not a politically popular position among those whom he will rely on in November. And for that I think he deserves our praise.

On only a slightly related note, I wonder if McCain hasn't been inspired by the British Tories recent success and sees the future of the Republican party depending on its ability to remake itself in the same conservative light.