Nate from fivethirtyeight.com aka Pablano, is turning us on to more informative numbers. Check out the liberal v. conservative numbers for Congress on the website http://voteview.com/sen110.htm.
It gives an overview of "exactly how liberal and how conservative our candidates are.
In the 107th Congress, however, McCain was quite moderate. Voteview doesn't have rankings before the 107th, so I'm not sure whether there was some permanent change in McCain's political philosophy on or around 2003 (perhaps coinciding with the start of the Iraq War) or whether it was his behavior in the 107th that was unusual (perhaps he took some pleasure in being a thorn in President Bush's side after having lost the primary to him). But this is more evidence for the notion that the 2008 version of John McCain is a very different politician than the 2000-2002 version of John McCain.
Voteview
This is great info for those of us who have had it with the Maverick. It shows that in the past, McCain had moderate tendencies, as he states. It shows further, that that John McCain is long gone, and he has been replaced with the Lock Step ne0-con that many of us are afraid of. This is a great Talking Point for anyone who says that McSame is not just another Bush.
Thanks Nate!