You have to assume that if he is elected, he will do most of what he says he will and live up to his words of late. He will keep or further the Bush tax cuts (or try to anyway) despite having been previously opposed to them because to do otherwise would greatly lessen his chances of reelection. Even 2nd term Presidents, who have that pressure removed, still try to stay close to their promises for the next guy from their party.
If anything, their words are probably a better predictor of future actions, since they'll be held accountable. Every time they do something opposite of what they promised, the Daily Show will roll the video they archived.
This certainly doesn't seem to have bothered Bush.
TV shows a bunch of clips of him being a moron, but for the most part he's lived up to his campaign promises.
It points out some areas where he was wrong, but not really where he didn't try to do something he said. In that video, he said he'd lower taxes and end the surplus and he did. He said he'd try to fix Social Security, and in his own way he did.
Love him or hate him, the guy did pretty much what he told us he would. The problem was he also did a lot of stuff that was clearly never discussed, like ignore Katrina or launch the Iraq war. But that's not really hypocrisy.
I would say that one was less an act of hypocrisy on Bush's part and more an adaptation to the post 9-11 world.
You would expect the same from a good President.
Actions are all that count. People are a fickle bunch, and it's an old trick to sound good on TV and then do whatever you feel like -- as long as it's complicated enough to the average Fred that he's not going to get pissed.
That's true for both parties. Look to how people act in the past -- it's a good predictor for the future. (Aside from 9-11 type events)
Weird, wouldn't a coherent ideology be something good? Because if there is no coherent pattern, I have to ask how can you be sure what he will vote next, and what if not ideology/conviction has determined his votes?
(Note: I don't know anything about McCain or Obama, just curious about the content of your argument).