John McCain has declared that he counts himself as a Republican “in the Theodore Roosevelt mold.”

But it’s hard to square Senator McCain’s candidacy with his hero worship of the 26th President.

Theodore Roosevelt repeatedly strained his ties to the Republican party, breaking with the G.O.P completely in 1912 to form the Progressive Party. His aim was to counter Republicans’ increasing tilt toward those he had once called “the reactionary or ultraconservative apologists for the misuse of wealth.”

From The New York Times Editorial Board Blog