HOME / politics: Who's winning, who's losing, and why.

Department of ApostateWhat happened to all those Democrats for McCain?

By Christopher BeamPosted Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, at 6:07 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

RSS

Orson Scott Card, the science-fiction author and registered Democrat, sparked a similar Web backlash when he endorsed McCain just a few weeks before Election Day. But that was nothing compared with the response when he came out in support of California's Proposition 8. "There are people who have just gone insane," he told me. " 'Card's this and that. … I've burned all his books.' It really bothers them that someone whose books they liked disagrees with them."

Since then, fans have calmed down. And so has Card. For him, national security is paramount. And in that area, he says, Obama's doing great: "Keeping Gates on in defense was a remarkable gesture. What he's saying now is completely different from what he was saying about withdrawing [from Iraq]. It's a learning curve."

Why do some switchers get so much guff while others are virtually ignored? It probably has to do with a few factors. One is how useful the apostates are to the opposing side. "They tried to parade that out as best they could," says Erwin, referring to the McCain camp. Still, "I didn't feel like I was being used. I did feel like I was doing the right thing for the country, even though it would cost me some political points." Paul Johnson, a former mayor of Phoenix, was famous for battling McCain in the 1990s, but he endorsed McCain anyway. "I had some of my very best friends chew me out," he says. "But that's OK. I've been chewed out before."

Another factor is the enthusiasm of the endorsement itself. For Democrats whose defection has been halfhearted, the reaction has been less harsh. "My article in Commonweal was titled 'Two Cheers for McCain,' " Carlin explained. "I wasn't ready to give him three cheers, and by the end I was only giving him one cheer."

And then there is the issue of expectations: Some Democrats are de facto Republicans already. The McCain Democrats who are having the easiest time are the ones whom everyone expected to endorse McCain.

Take former CIA chief James Woolsey. "I've known [McCain] for over 30 years," says Woolsey. "He was about three years out of prison in 1977 when I became undersecretary of the Navy." Woolsey calls himself a Scoop Jackson Democrat—"now a Joe Lieberman Democrat," he says—who supports pro-business fiscal policy and responsible foreign intervention. He has worked for administrations of both parties. In 1992, he endorsed Clinton. In 1996, he endorsed Dole. "I liked him, actually thought he'd be a good president," he says. "It wasn't a lot more complicated than that." He was even John McCain's adviser on energy and the environment. His endorsement was therefore about as surprising as George W. Bush's.

Woolsey says it's silly to get upset about cross-party endorsements. That's what happens in a two-party system in which both sides are struggling for the middle. "I think everybody's just gotta relax," he says.

Indeed, the fear of retribution seems overblown. Friends had told De Rothschild that she would be punished for her apostasy. This occurred to her when, as she was going through customs on Wednesday, an agent approached her: " 'Sorry, ma'am, there's a problem,' he said. I said, 'Oh, my God, what is it?' He said, 'You're wearing an Eagles cap.' " She sighed with relief. "I thought, 'It's true, they do come after you!' It's not true."