You really should read the stuff you link to if you intend to rely upon it:
“What most likely happened, I think, is that Kerry did approach McCain over a period of time, both about switching parties and about running as Kerry’s Vice President. McCain says he never took the offers seriously, and my guess is that’s true.
What hurts McCain is that over a period of time, leading Democrats who knew him reasonably well thought that he was someone who might switch parties or run on a ticket with John Kerry. Those aren’t good things to be believed, even wrongly, of a man who wants the Republican Presidential nomination.
In McCain’s defense, I suspect that these overtures reflect the Democrats’ basic lack of seriousness about policy. For the Democrats, everything is about politics. So if they perceived that McCain was angry at President Bush, they apparently didn’t consider his pro-war, pro-life, free-trade, small government views to be much of a problem. McCain, on the other hand, is serious about policy, and he seems to have understood how ridiculous it would be for him to share a ticket with a liberal like Kerry.”
McCain scoffed at Kerry because Kerry offered him the responsibility for National Defense, and McCain flatly said that the CINC does not work that way.
Just shows how much MCCain supported the GOP
Maverick McCain rips GOP By Noelle Straub Friday, April 2, 2004
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain yesterday unleashed an attack on his own party, saying the GOP is ``astray'' on key issues and criticizing President Bush [related, bio] on the war in Iraq.
*****``I believe my party has gone astray,'' McCain said, criticizing GOP stands on environmental and minority issues.
*****``I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and their philosophy,'' he said. ``But I also feel the Republican Party can be brought back to the principles I articulated before.''
*****The maverick senator made the remarks at a legislative seminar hosted by U.S. Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Lowell) as he again ruled out running on a ticket with Democrat John F. Kerry [related, bio].
*****The Arizona Republican took on President Bush for failing to prepare Americans for a long involvement in Iraq, saying, ``You can't fly in on an aircraft carrier and declare victory and have the deaths continue. You can't do that.''
*****McCain said the U.S. should seek more U.N. involvement in Iraq. ``Many people in this room question, legitimately, whether we should have gone in or not,'' he said, adding that that debate ``will be part of this presidential campaign.'
From FOX news and McCain wanting to be VP
SNOW: Well, you’re absolutely right though, it’s going to be fun to see. Now John Kerry, is it true that John Kerry asked you to be his vice president?
McCAIN: Uh, no. No, it was never offered.
SNOW: It was never offered. So, it may have been discussed elliptically, but never flat out request.
McCAIN: Never was an offer, no.
SNOW: When you had conversations, did you think it was a little weird that he’d be calling you, even in general terms about this sort of thing?
McCAIN: Well, he and I have been friends for a number of years because of our efforts on POWs and MIAs which was a very hot issue back in the early 90’s, a lot of people have forgotten about it, but it was a- and we worked together to try to resolve that issue and I appreciate the work that he did on it. And, so it’s not unusual for us to have conversations.
SNOW: Right. But, so- I want to just lay to rest once and for all: never approached you, never hinted that he wanted to talk to you about being vice president. All that kind of stuff was made up.
McCAIN: Well, I cannot attest to that. All I can tell you is my conversations with him were private conversations, but he never offered it.