Sorry, as you say, no sale. I can look up how often McCain voted conservative in those years to see if he "radically changed" by 2000 and went from being mostly reliable conservative to a slimey liberal voting with us less than half the time. Here is how often he supported the American Conservative Union from 1997 to 2000:
McCAIN, JOHN S.
1997 - 80%
1998 - 68%
1999 - 77%
2000 - 81%
Looks he had a bum year in 1998 (though he STILL managed to support us nearly 70% of the time), but the alledged "radically changed, turned leftist" McCain scored a respectable 77% in 1999 and got a conservative rating of 81% by 2000, one point higher than the "old, reliable McCain" from 1997.
Yep, no sale. Your statements don't match his voting records.
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BTW, for comparison, here's an ACTUAL example of a a "radical change":
SHELBY, RICHARD
1993 - 42%
1994 - 55%
Switches parties when GOP takes control of Congress
1995 - 91%
1996 - 90%
It appears I was off about a year:
2007 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 43 percent in 2007.
2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 38 percent in 2006.
Missing these years.
2002 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 65 percent in 2002.
2001 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 65 percent in 2001.
2000 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 67 percent in 2000.
1999 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 60 percent in 1999.
1998 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 50 percent in 1998.
1997 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 55 percent in 1997.
1995-1996 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Conservative Index - The John Birch Society 74 percent in 1995-1996.