I would never have imagined writing about John McCain for my last post in 2007. I thought this guy was dead in the water back in June. Now he is re-surging faster than George Bush can shred the Constitution. Of course the easy answer for this is because Republican voters hate all their choices and are leap-frogging from candidate to candidate. Remember when Fred Thompson was all the rage, or Mike Huckabee way back in mid-December?
Well anyways, I also remember McCain going into this mess back in late 2006 and he was being described as the "eventual nominee" much as Hillary was up until a month or two ago. My my how things can change in Presidential politics. So being the re-up and coming contender, it seems McCain is still up to his old tricks. Those tricks being saying one thing, even doing one thing, then turning around and doing the opposite.
From The Washington Post:
McCain began his anti-special-interest drive two decades ago after he and four other senators were accused of trying to influence bank regulators on behalf of donor Charles Keating, a savings and loan financier later convicted of securities fraud. The Senate ethics committee said McCain had used "poor judgment" but also said his actions "were not improper" and did not merit punishment.
Ever since, McCain has made high ethical standards a hallmark of his public persona. In his 2002 memoir, he wrote that "money does buy access in Washington, and access increases influence that often results in benefiting the few at the expense of the many." Just this month in Detroit, he told reporters that he had "never done any favors for anybody -- lobbyist or special interest group -- that's a clear, 24-year record."
Nonetheless, a recent study by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute and the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen found that McCain has more lobbyists raising funds for his presidential bid than do any of his rivals. He has 32 "bundlers" of donations who are lobbyists. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) is the closest to him with 29 lobbyist bundlers, followed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) with 18.
McCain's campaign has also been guided by lobbyists. Davis, the campaign manager, is a former lobbyist who represented major telecommunications companies. The campaign's senior adviser is Charles R. Black Jr., chairman of BKSH & Associates, which represents drug companies, an oil company, an automaker, a telecommunications company, defense contractors and the steel industry, among others.
Not only is he guided by K Street, he likes to talk tough about another flip-flopper, who I would like to call King Flip-Flop, or Mitt for short. Romney is also going after his impromptu protege as he feels threatened by the Senator from Arizona.
It really is anyone's game...on both sides, but at least Democrats aren't playing tricks like these. I wonder who came up with that holiday card.
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