I supported President Bush as well... anyone would have been better than that policy-less muppet John Kerry...

Let's see.  Bush and McCain are both Republicans.  I am shocked!

Yeah and Obama supported the 4 dissenting votes in the Supreme Court that would have disarmed the American people!

Just like any other elected Republican and more than 60 million voters.

The guy supported someone in '04 who is not only an utter disaster for our country, but did  so some years after the other candidate's people spread false accusations about HIM and his adopted daughter that have a strongly racist nature to them. The Republicans would get some more respect from me if they learned to ditch the embarassing Bob Jones element of their party . I am not a big fan of Sidney John McCain...

Ain't party politics a bitch?

Cynical political positioning, nothing more and nothing less. 

While it may have been tempting for McCain to have back-doored the incumbent in 2004, especially in light of the vicious and untruthful assaults on him by the Bush campaign in 2000, the Arizona senator looked to his political future, weighed the odds, and chose the easier course.

Not particularly courageous, but then few ambitious politicians are when they see the brass ring getting close.

A factor to be considered for sure.

since i supported president bush in 2004, this is a fairly weak reason  for me not to support him in 2008. if he had not supported the president, he would have supported john f(rankenstein) kerry or that sourpuss ralph nader. president bush was easily the best candidate in 2004, and i believe that over time his presidency will be rated more favorably by historians.

What...people expected him to go against party lines in a national election? McCain might be somewhat of a free thinker when it comes to politicians, but that means very little. He will still toe the party line most of the time, and certainly is expected to in this situation. While he might go against Republicans at times, a Presidential election would be the most important time not to stray from what is colleagues and constituency expect him to do.

Is McCain a Republican? Was the 2004 Republican G.W. Bush? Then, as a good Republican, McCain supported the candidate of his party. Using this as a smearing argument against him is childish and dishonest.

The primary reason not to vote for anybody!!! John should have seen that george was a terrible president but he was being influenced by the usually GOP higher up idiots to support Bush.

I am not judging McCain based on George W. Bush's record. It is simply not fair to McCain, especially since he has bucked Bush on more than a few things: fiscal policy, Iraq, foreign policy, environmental policy. McCain I believe would be a better President than Bush: I think would be more deliberative and his range of experience is superior to Bush's in every respect. Are there a few things that concern me about him? Yes, his weak credentials on economic matters might be problematic--I don't like some of the economic advisors he's surrounding himself with, plenty of lightweights, and his foreign policy stances on some issues are troubling, such as his overly belligerent views on the Russians. But I like McCain overall, he strikes me as someone straightforward and honest. That is always a good start.

If I don't vote for McCain in November, this will be the primary reason.  Flash back to 2004.  Anybody who was paying attention had already realized that Bush was incompetent and was doing serious, long term damage to our country.  There were rumors of a McCain / Kerry ticket, and all the signs pointed towards America's moderates giving a failed president his walking papers.  Out of nowhere, McCain threw his full weight behind President Bush in an enthusiastic endorsement.

In my mind, this is the moment that we needed the maverick senator from Arizona to live up to his billing as somebody who puts his country ahead of his political party.  Instead, he played party politics for a man who had sold out the conservative principles of small government and federalism, and who had personally smeared him in despicable fashion in 2000.

I am having a hard time forgiving McCain for this.