Why Conservatives Dislike McCain, Continued

Just when I thought we had exhausted the personal reasons among the anybody-but-McCain crowd, Jonah Goldberg illuminates another one: guilt by association:

In the eyes of his conservative detractors—among whom I've long counted myself—McCain has a maddening habit of proving his political independence by winning accolades from the New York Times editorial board. On campaign finance reform, global warming and opposition to tax cuts, the "maverick" has too often racked up points by scoring against his own team. Sometimes he stands to the right of the GOP, sometimes to the left, but always he seems to relish breaking ranks for its own sake. . . .

[By contrast, because Rudy] Giuliani made the right enemies—chief among them those vexatious New York Times editors—conservatives respect him, even though they disagree with him on almost everything [sic]. And they give the cold shoulder to McCain, who agrees with them on most of the important things.

Update (4/27): Fred Barnes agrees:

"Having the press be mad at you will probably help with Republicans. They assume if the press is attacking you, you must be doing something right."