KOA's Rosen parroted McCain's "maverick" label despite evidence to the contrary

Summary: Newsradio 850 KOA's Mike Rosen echoed the talking point that Sen. John McCain purportedly has a "maverick record" and asserted that "his softness on some issues" makes him "appealing to some swing voters." In fact, widespread reporting shows that McCain's voting record and his shifts in positions on key issues frequently contradict the "maverick" reputation.

On his May 8 broadcast, Newsradio 850 KOA's Mike Rosen repeated the talking points that Sen. John McCain has a "maverick record" and that "his softness on some issues is exactly what makes him more appealing to some swing voters who aren't committed to Republicans and conservatism." In referring to McCain's purported "maverick record," Rosen echoed what The Arizona Republic labeled a "popular narrative" about "McCain's maverick tendencies." The Republic reported that according to an analysis it conducted of McCain's record on highly contested votes, McCain "almost never thwarted his party's objectives."

Further, in citing McCain's purported "softness on some issues" important to Republicans and conservatives, Rosen followed a pattern, documented repeatedly by Media Matters for America, in which the media label McCain a "maverick" despite his shifts and reversals on issues such as immigration and tax cuts that have more closely aligned him with the mainstream of the Republican Party.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, 630 KHOW-AM's Craig Silverman similarly referred to McCain as a "moderate" who's been "willing to buck the Republican establishment," despite a February 7 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in which McCain stated, "My record in public office taken as a whole is the record of a mainstream conservative."

From the May 8 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

ROSEN: People were very angry with the direction that a liberal president and a liberal majority in both houses of Congress had taken the country, and they were very receptive to a conservative alternative. Well, it's not 1980 anymore. The Soviet Union has been defeated, thanks to Ronald Reagan, at least for now. The top marginal tax rate isn't 70 percent, it's 35 percent; and rightly or wrongly, George W. Bush is perceived as a failed president. And swing voters -- I'm not talking about loyal Republicans now -- swing voters are inclined to change, and the kind of change they want is not in a more conservative direction. I don't celebrate that observation, but I make that observation; and a rock-solid conservative, a Ronald Reagan conservative, probably couldn't win in 2008. John McCain's maverick record and his softness on some issues is exactly what makes him more appealing to some swing voters who aren't committed to Republicans and conservatism. That's the reality that we're facing, even though some people on the right don't want to recognize that reality.

CALLER: That was gonna be my whole point, actually.

Contrary to Rosen's statement that McCain has a "maverick record," the Republic's May 7 article reported that its "analysis of his Senate votes on the most divided issues in the past decade shows that McCain almost never thwarted his party's objectives." The Republic further reported:

The presumptive Republican nominee arguably cast the decisive vote 14 times since 1999 to ensure Republicans got their way, and he had five other close cases where his vote may have made a difference, Senate records show. By comparison, McCain effectively handed Democrats a win on roll-call votes four times in the same period. On one of those occasions, Republicans could still have won if Vice President Dick Cheney had cast a tie-breaking vote.

The numbers are based on a review of Senate roll-call votes since 1999 that ended in a tie or were settled by one vote. The closest votes in that period included momentous, partisan-charged legislation, such as President Bush's tax cuts. More often, they were procedural votes on deal-breaking amendments to bills that would otherwise pass.

[...]

The voting pattern seems at odds with the popular narrative that McCain's maverick tendencies make him an unreliable conservative.

The Republic also reported that McCain's record of voting with or against his party on close votes suggests a pattern that reflects whether he was running for president at the time:

During the 10 years The Republic examined, McCain crossed over to vote with Democrats 19 times in 82 close votes. He did so just once in the four years he was running for president: 1999, 2000, 2007 and 2008. All 12 of the close votes he missed happened in those years, too.

Even so, in 59 of the 82 close votes, Republicans got what they wanted regardless of McCain's position. In those 59 cases, McCain broke with his party 16 times.

Contrary to Rosen's suggestion that McCain exhibits "softness on some issues" that differentiates him from conservatives, in a sidebar to a February 5 article, The Washington Post listed as "Top McCain Flip-Flops" his shifts toward more conservative positions on such issues as taxes, the religious right, and immigration:

Top McCain Flip-Flops

1. Taxes. John McCain was one of two Republican senators to vote against President Bush's tax cuts of 2001, saying that he could not support cuts that benefited the rich rather than the middle class. He now favors making the tax cuts permanent.

2. The religious right. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he attacked Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance." He withdrew that remark in a 2006 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," saying that the Christian right has a "major role to play in the Republican Party."

3. Immigration. Last year, he sponsored a bill that would combine a temporary-worker program and a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants while also increasing border security. He now emphasizes securing the borders first.

—E.B.