In the cover story for the February 11 issue of Newsweek, assistant managing editor Evan Thomas asserted that Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) unwillingness to heed the call of “some of his advisers” to “soften his stances on immigration and Iraq” represented “a characteristically principled stand” indicative of how McCain is “obviously dispirited by anything that smacks of pandering.” But Thomas did not account for McCain's reversal on whether border security can be addressed first or whether it must be addressed along with other changes to immigration law, or his recent statement that he “would not” support his own comprehensive immigration proposal if it came to a vote on the Senate floor, despite stating days earlier that he would sign that very legislation into law if he were elected president.

From the February 11 issue of Newsweek:

McCain will trim his sails politically when necessary, but he is obviously dispirited by anything that smacks of pandering. A year ago he was the front runner, claiming the mantle of the Republican establishment and hoping to inherit the Bush fund-raising machine. But when his fund-raising stalled, he dumped some of his top campaign staff and wound up in the role of maverick once again, pushing from the outside. McCain claims that staff shake-ups are nothing new to presidential campaigns (true) and that he lost support among conservatives because he favored a compromise on immigration. In early 2007, when some of his advisers tried to get him to soften his stances on immigration and Iraq, he snapped, “Don't try to change my mind,” says a former aide who wished to avoid McCain's wrath by remaining anonymous.

It was a characteristically principled stand, and yet McCain's leadership skills are called into question by the near meltdown of his campaign. “Nobody knew who the boss was,” says one of McCain's longtime friends and advisers, who declined to be named discussing the internal workings of the campaign. “You couldn't get people to return your calls. It was bad.” More troubling, says this associate, was McCain's blind eye to the problem. “He didn't really seem to want to deal with it.”