by James Glaser
April 26, 2007

Republican Senator John McCain officially announced that he is running for president yesterday. In truth, McCain has been running for that office for the last 10 years. In the 2000 primary McCain beat out George Bush in New Hamshire, but faded after losing to Bush in South Carolina's primary.

One would hope that John McCain would run, after all he has collected something like 12 million dollars in campaign contributions already. The man has been on the stump every day for the last decade, but he has lost most of his following.

At one time many independent and even some Democratic voters were enamored with the Senator's stand against torture and his work on campaign finance reform, but over the years McCain has become George Bush's biggest backer for his war in Iraq. He folded on his opposition to torture, and John McCain's "Straight Talk Express" derailed in a market in Baghdad.

McCain told the world that the war in Iraq was going so well that Americans could walk the streets of Baghdad. But when "60 Minutes" pulled their cameras back for a wider look at the Senator in a Baghdad market, they exposed the over 100 heavily armed troops guarding the Senator, and when they panned the sky they caught the attack helicopters circling over head.

In some circles the Senator is heralded as a war hero, in others, he was a Navy pilot shot down bombing a civilian power plant near the center of Hanoi.

McCain is now 70 years old, he would be 72 if elected which would make him the oldest man ever elected as President. Many people feel that his time has passed. Many feel that he is a war monger, and still others feel he has been in politics so long that he has been bought many times over with campaign funds.

John McCain could have become president in 2004, but he would not run against George Bush. Waiting until 2008 has probably cost him his shot at America's highest office.

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