For McCain, the 'Right' Friends

Of course, "read my lips" didn't work out so well the first time around.
The reason why the taxpayer protection pledge is important is because the whole world saw George H.W. Bush throw away a perfectly good presidency because he broke it. That's why people take it, because it means something. The pledge is sui generis. No one else has created something where if you break it, you lose.

What about his comments about the inadvisability of cutting taxes during wartime? Given that he's so focused on Iraq, doesn't it seem as though he could reassess his current pledge?
No, I think it works the other way. He is very wrapped up in his sense of honor. He doesn't lie. That's why people like him. Plus, if this election is, front and center, "McCain will not raise your taxes. Hillary and Obama will," I think we will win. If this is not about taxes, it's difficult to see how McCain can win. Or any Republican.

How about other conservatives, whose first priority isn't always cutting taxes? How do you see their support for McCain?
I believe conservatives, one, are warming to McCain. You certainly saw a good response at CPAC. But, two, it just takes time. Remember, for a lot of people, they've only been introduced to McCain in the past couple months. He was hibernating for a year. Everyone could tell you that they were hinting for Romney or thinking about Huckabee. The establishment thinking was that McCain was not in it anymore. That's why nobody threw a punch at him for a year. If you have 30 seconds to hit somebody, you hit Romney. Why would you throw a punch at the nice guy in the uniform? Neither the press, McCain, nor the conservative movement should expect everything to be fixed right away.

This question of will conservatives support McCain is a question of the credibility of his change. The prodigal son comes home — do you believe him? A lot of discussion of Romney's move from pro-choice to pro-life fails to understand that his problem wasn't that Romney didn't check off the box. It's that people didn't hear him explain it in a way that made them comfortable. One theory [about McCain] is that he wasn't voting against taxpayers, he was voting against Bush. Some people make that case in his defense. And I can think of conservatives who voted against free trade because they hated Clinton so much. Which is to say McCain went away from a traditional low-tax position, and we criticized him when he did. In a sense, I am a microcosm for when others in the movement have a real beef with him. If McCain credibly comes back on their issues, then they will say nice things, as [we] have. We're not saying that because we like him, we're not saying it because he's going to be the nominee. We're saying it because of his positions. I'm a little more of a thermometer than a power player in D.C. I can't unilaterally decide whether he's good or he's bad. And then when Hillary gets the nomination …

You think that's a lock?
Well, what do they say about knife fights? Never bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line. [Laughs] Well, never bet against the Clintons when the election is on the line. At that point, whatever unhappiness [there is among conservatives] about McCain will drop in half.

What else is McCain good on, besides taxes?
Well, he's my candidate who gets immigration right—on a personal level, speaking not as a head of the taxpayer group. You gotta make that clear. On a personal level, he's the one who recognizes the value of immigration to America. I did a press conference last spring on the subject. This is the issue McCain's always been both good on and brave on.

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