President Bush’s obedient lapdog, Senator John McCain, trotted out today to defend his master’s appointment of General Michael Hayden to be the next chief of the CIA:

Hayden has his defenders on Capitol Hill. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he hopes he could be confirmed.

‘In all due respect to my colleagues - and I obviously respect their views - General Hayden is really more of an intelligence person than he is an Air Force officer,’ McCain said on ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS.

By supporting President Bush’s appointment, McCain is again displaying his lack of concern about domestic spying.  General Hayden was previously Director of the NSA which is the government agency that is spying on American citizens without a warrant or judicial oversight.

If McCain was truly a maverick, he would oppose General Hayden’s appointment and call for immediate investigations into the domestic spying scandal.  By refusing to do so he once again proves he is no maverick.

As referenced on the front page this morning, Senator John McCain came out in opposition to the President’s use of the NSA to monitor domestic communications. From Think Progress:

WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it. And so let’s have the hearings.

But what did he have to say just a month ago on the same topic?

From MSNBC:

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said, “I take him (Bush) at his word” that the order was critical to saving lives and consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution.”"The president, I think, has the right to do this, and yet, I don’t know why he didn’t go” through court procedures, McCain told ABC’s “This Week.”

“I know that the leaders of Congress were consulted, and that’s a very important part of this equation,” McCain said.

Has he changed his story because of new information about the program? Or has he flopped to the other side as a result of his presidential aspirations?

Is John McCain simply a political opportunist? I would tend to believe so.

On a similar note, If anyone is interested in co-authoring a blog about the true McCain (i.e. his ultra-conservative voting record) email me at [username]@gmail.com

I am in the planning stages and would love company.