Cafferty said McCain "has been at odds with his own party for years" on immigration without noting his reversal on the issue

Summary: CNN's Jack Cafferty asserted that Sen. John McCain "has been at odds with his own party for years on issues like immigration, campaign finance reform, and global warming," without noting that McCain said on January 30 that he would no longer support his own comprehensive immigration reform bill if it came up for a vote in the Senate and now says that "we've got to secure the borders first."

On the May 15 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, commentator Jack Cafferty asserted that Sen. John McCain "has been at odds with his own party for years on issues like immigration, campaign finance reform, and global warming," without noting that McCain said on January 30 that he would no longer support his own comprehensive immigration reform bill if it came up for a vote in the Senate. Additionally, McCain has reversed himself on the issue of border security; he now says that "we've got to secure the borders first" -- a position at odds with his prior assertion that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform without being rendered ineffective.

Cafferty also said that "a lot of Republicans are hoping that the maverick appeal of McCain will help other Republicans on the ballot." Media Matters for America has extensively documented the broadcast and print media's repeated habit of using the label "maverick" when discussing McCain.

From the May 15 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

CAFFERTY: John McCain took a look into the future this morning, delivering a speech that looked ahead to what the U.S. and the world would be like in four years, after the first term of a McCain presidency. You may recognize some things in here as stuff you've heard before.

Some of the highlights: He thinks the Iraq war will be won; Iraq will be a functioning democracy; violence there will be, quote, "spasmodic and much reduced," unquote. McCain thinks the U.S. will have welcomed home most of its troops. He thinks the threat from Al Qaeda and the Taliban won't yet be eliminated, even though [Osama] bin Laden will be captured or killed.

Recognize -- does this stuff sound familiar to you yet?

It's pretty bold to lay out these objectives like this. It gives the critics a lot to measure you against if, for example, these things don't turn out to actually be the case in four years, assuming you win the White House - which is a bit of a leap of faith at this point anyway.

In any case, John McCain seems to be one of the few things Republicans have going for them this fall. After a string of GOP defeats in special elections, a lot of Republicans are hoping that the maverick appeal of McCain will help other Republicans on the ballot.

It's all kind of ironic when you consider the Arizona senator has been at odds with his own party for years on issues like immigration, campaign finance reform, and global warming.

—M.A.