McCain's Thin Line

McCainiacs won't like this blog, but too bad. We have to have a little straight talk.

Since the NY Times ran the article on McCain's alleged relationship with a lobbyist, the Gray Lady has been forced to take a look at her journalistic practices. The hope here is that they have learned something from the fall out. But John McCain should have learned something, too: Be careful of self righteous indignation, because when you point a finger at others, you can be sure three are pointing back at you. McCain is lucky that the Times decided to impersonate the National Enquirer. While he could safely deny the thin accusation of an affair with a female lobbyist, he was never forced to answer specifics that the article detailed regarding access he gave to special interests when he was Chairman of the Commerce Committee. And as McCain sits on a high horse about lobbyists, the truth is, he has more lobbyists and former lobbyists on his campaign staff than either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

And he is now embroiled in an issue that calls him out as a complete hypocrite. The FEC released a letter denying Mac's request to opt out of public financing for the remainder of the primary season. That's right, I said opt out. It seems that last year, when Mac didn't have two nickels to rub together, he opted in on public financing for his campaign. Then he took out a $4 million dollar loan late last year, using public funds as collateral. But when he started winning and the donations started flowing, suddenly the crisis was averted. And now, he wants to opt out of public financing because it would limit his spending to 40 million between now and the Republican convention in September. The FEC is balking because of the loan. But Mac will probably get his way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/us/politics/22finance.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=McCain+Loan&st=nyt&oref=slogin

So, where's the hypocrisy? Well, while this has been going on, McCain has been hammering Barack Obama for hedging on a pledge he made last summer to use public financing for the general election. McCain made it sound cut and dried: Obama made a pledge and he should stick to it. But McCain went further to make his sanctimonious point. He said, in effect, that throughout his career he, McCain, had entered into arrangements that weren't always advantageous to him but he stuck to them because it was the right thing to do. Oh, really? But what about now? Now that it's not advantageous for McCain to stick to public financing, it's ok if he wants to opt out?

Now, McCainiacs, don't even go there. I can hear you starting in on ..."but Mac was talking about sticking to your word. And he never pledged to use public financing for the primary". No. He just used it when it was advantageous to use it. And now he wants out because it's advantageous to get out. Which is fine...if you're not crying foul when Obama might want to do the same thing. And if you don't assume we're all stupid enough to believe that raising this issue isn't to neutralize Obama's massive fundraising advantage, but to call attention to typical 'Washington politics' that people so hate. Please.

I'm going to chalk all of this up to McCain having a bad few days. But he needs to learn a simple lesson: If you're going to be a straight shooter, don't play petty political games. Because you never know when that petard that you think is hoisting up your opponent, can come back and grab you.

Oh, and why is Mac pretty confident he'll win his case with the FEC? He's got a former chairman working for him as an advisor. Now, that's typical Washington politics.

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