Teddy Roosevelt and John McCain

        Mornings on Horseback, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, River of Doubt, TR the Last Romantic - all admirable biographies or partial biographies of a currently popular past president from a prominent American Family, Theodore Roosevelt.  As an aside, Teddy was a Republican while his equally famous cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, was a Democrat - an interesting story in itself.  However, Teddy has become an icon of the Republican party featured on posters at Republican fund-raisers, and referred to frequently by party leaders.  Indeed, John McCain has stated that Teddy is his political idol.  Senator McCain is a longtime conservative and current Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States, running against his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.  McCain is an admirable man with an admirable history proclaiming a populist program "...for the great citizens of this wonderful country."  An admirable agenda.

        However, I'm wondering just how much Senator McCain has read of his idol.  I'm wondering because Teddy was a President who advocated positions that are the antithesis of the positions staked out by the current Republican platform.  During his presidency, 1901-1909, Teddy Roosevelt dismantled some forty monopolies.  He advocated for and attained regulations for foods, drugs, railroads, and labor unions.  Additionally, being sworn in after the assassination of William McKinley, he took the oath of office without benefit of a Bible.  

        After initially refusing to run for a third term in 1908, Teddy changed his mind and ranin 1912 against his originally hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft.  President Taft advocated positions remarkably similar to those put forth by today's Republicans, causing Teddy to advocate for a platform similar to that of today's Democrats.  Losing out on the Republican nomination, Teddy created the Bull Moose party and ran for the presidency against Taft and Woodrow Wilson.  Similar to 1992 when Republican Ross Perot ran as an independent against Republican George H.W. Bush, dividing the vote and electing Bill Clinton.  Teddy's third-party run resulted in the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.  

        In another venue it would be interesting to analyze Teddy's platform.  Among its many planks were the call for women's suffrage, limitation of campaign contributions, and the registration of lobbyists - all liberal points to the extreme in 1912.

        It would seem prudent that Senator McCain analyze a previous Arizona conservative senator's political positions. Barry Goldwater's brand of conservatism, "Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything that you have,"  would seem a better fit than Teddy's, "The most successful politician is he who says what everybody is thinking and says it the loudest."  A most un-McCain tendency.