McCain 2004/2008

I found two sites. One that asked for John McCain's stances in 2004 and the 2008 Campaign website.

2004:

 

In 2004 The National Political Awareness Test (NPAT) asked candidates which items they would support if elected. Items included economic and policy issues, both domestic and foreign. Here are the highlights of John McCain's responses to the questions. John McCain on Abortion * Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape, when the life of the woman is endangered. * The "partial-birth" abortion should not be permitted. * Organizations that advocate or perform abortions should not be publicly funded

 2008:

 

Overturning Roe v. Wade John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat. However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion. Once the question is returned to the states, the fight for life will be one of courage and compassion - the courage of a pregnant mother to bring her child into the world and the compassion of civil society to meet her needs and those of her newborn baby. The pro-life movement has done tremendous work in building and reinforcing the infrastructure of civil society by strengthening faith-based, community, and neighborhood organizations that provide critical services to pregnant mothers in need. This work must continue and government must find new ways to empower and strengthen these armies of compassion. These important groups can help build the consensus necessary to end abortion at the state level. As John McCain has publicly noted, "At its core, abortion is a human tragedy. To effect meaningful change, we must engage the debate at a human level."

So we see McCain is now (as opposed to 2000) committed to ending Roe V Wade but in reality we don't see John McCain as a Strong Candidate on the Pro-Life issue because he isn't.

On Gay Marriage we see a similar thing

2008:

 

Protecting Marriage As president, John McCain would nominate judges who understand that the role of the Court is not to subvert the rights of the people by legislating from the bench. Critical to Constitutional balance is ensuring that, where state and local governments do act to preserve the traditional family, the Courts must not overstep their authority and thwart the Constitutional right of the people to decide this question. The family represents the foundation of Western Civilization and civil society and John McCain believes the institution of marriage is a union between one man and one woman. It is only this definition that sufficiently recognizes the vital and unique role played by mothers and fathers in the raising of children, and the role of the family in shaping, stabilizing, and strengthening communities and our nation. As with most issues vital to the preservation and health of civil society, the basic responsibility for preserving and strengthening the family should reside at the level of government closest to the people. In their wisdom, the Founding Fathers reserved for the States the authority and responsibility to protect and strengthen the vital institutions of our civil society. They did so to ensure that the voices of America's families could not be ignored by an indifferent national government or suffocated through filibusters and clever legislative maneuvering in Congress.

And now 2004:

John McCain on Same Sex Marriages

• Same-sex couples should be allowed to form civil unions. Marriage should be restricted to a union only between a man and a woman.

While he focuses on the core issues of politically popular irritation in the Judges we don't see at the core what John McCain thinks. We see a whole lot of platitudes. Now me personally I consider a lot of issues more important then Abortion, and I view Gay Marriage as an assault against traditional marriage and one where the end of that pardigm shift and how it would change our society is unknown. But I look at this and I don't see John McCain as a conservative like me, nor do I see him as a person who is even like me. Whereas he is running against a canidate who makes people feel rightly or wrongly like he is one of us (the Us depending on who he reaches out to). John McCain can't win if he doesn't open up and show us who he really is