Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Thinking about voting for McCain? Read this book. Cliff Schecter's hard-hitting profile explores the gap between the public record of Senator John McCain and his media image. Drawing on a range of sources and adding his unique perspective and humor, Schecter guides the reader though McCain's long history of expedient flip-flops, especially on his signature issues of national security and campaign finance reform. Far from a straight-talking maverick, McCain emerges as a temperamental political chameleon who will do or say virtually anything to become president of the United States. On issue after issue - including the invasion and occupation of Iraq, torture, abortion, and gay rights - The Real McCain reveals a politician who started as a Goldwater Republican, experienced a brief period after sanity after his loss to George W. Bush in 2000, and began pandering to the very groups he challenged after deciding to run again in 2008.

Rating : - A fast, breezy read - with lots of compelling evidence
I'm not a McCain fan, but I am interested in reading about him - and this quick read is compelling. (Think: Saturday afternoon in Napa Valley while you're sipping your chardonnay and munching on some brie...) And the best part about it - footnotes! Schecter has scrupulously documented his manuscript with 20 pages of footnotes, citing (among others) The New York Times, the Congressional Record, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post and the Orlando Sentinel, as well as a host of online sources including Slate. Exploring his references is as much fun as reading the book.

While The Real McCain portrays McCain as a flip-flopping brown-nosing politician who will do anything to succeed, one has to ask, so? For me the most surprising thing was how obvious this flip-flopping is - condemning the Confederate flag as offensive in one speech, and three days later saying "the flag is a symbol of heritage"; saying we should "stay the course" in Iraq one day and the next week saying he's "not an advocate for a 'stay the course' policy in Iraq." Schecter goes on and on in a conversational and easy-to-read tone that makes this an easy one-day read.

And if you Google "Cliff Schecter," you get to his blog - even more fun. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is it's too short, although at $10 it's a great bargain.