McCain has been a RINO for years. He runs to the right at every election but when its over, he's back to the left.
Pro Amnesty. Now he's pretending he's not but everyone remembers that bill
Created gang of 13 thawarting republican issues, bills and judges and he did it imo only because Bush beat him in the primary
Against the Bush tax cuts in 01 and 03
Voted against Alito for the Supreme Court
Voted against free speech with his McCain Feingold bill which was overturned
Claims enhanced interrogations are "torture"
Against drilling in Alaska
He sided with Gore on global warming
He's the biggest RINO because he's done the most damage to republicans than any other Senator.
Okay, so like I said, he is moderate
on some issues.
I don't agree with him all the time, but on pretty much every issue you
didn't list, he holds the same views as the rest of the party. That is, with some important exceptions, like his opposition to earmarks and Medicare Part D - which really should make him
more favorable in fiscal conservatives' eyes than the rest of the party, balancing out his moderation elsewhere.
And he was never pro-amnesty, he was pro-guest worker program. It is disingenuous to act as if they are the same thing (though too many conservatives do so). And frankly, I would have favored that immigration bill he co-wrote.
That last line doesn't even make sense. More damage "to republicans" than any other Senator? What does that even mean? I thought "RINO" meant "Republican In Name Only", not "person who does damage to other Republicans". McCain isn't
nearly as much as a RINO as actual RINOs like Charlie Crist or Arnold Schwartznager, not to mention other Senators like the two from Maine.
Anyways, he clearly didn't do enough damage to Republicans to stop them from nominating him for President last election. Thus proving that not all Republicans are of the label-purity, black-and-white-thinking type. Frankly, out of the choices given at the time, I myself had decided that McCain was probably the best candidate for the GOP.