De toute évidence, une partie importante de l'électorat républicain ne se fait pas à l'idée d'avoir John McCain comme porte-étendard. Et le numéro courant de Newsweek aide à comprendre pourquoi certains tenants de la droite américaine détestent cordialement le sénateur de l'Arizona. Je cite dans le texte un extrait du reportage de l'hebdomadaire :
Conservatives have long memories, and plenty of what they recall is painful. In the last decade or so, McCain has sinned mightily against right-wing orthodoxy. He cosponsored the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which undermined a bedrock GOP belief that money is a form of free speech (and deprived conservative lobbying groups of influence); he joined the Senate's "Gang of 14," which forged a middle ground over the nomination of conservative judges, and he supported a compromise on illegal immigration. "McCain's apostasies are too numerous to count," wrote Krauthammer. "He's held the line on abortion, but on just about everything else he could find-tax cuts, immigration, campaign finance reform, Guantánamo-he not only opposed the conservative consensus but also insisted on doing so with ostentatious self-righteousness."