McCain
June 30th, 2008 |“This election is about trust — trust in people’s word,” McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told several hundred donors at a $2 million GOP fundraiser in Louisville, Kentucky, yesterday. “And unfortunately, apparently on several items, Senator Obama’s word cannot be trusted.”
Good one.
Meanwhile John McCain continues to spend over the spending limits he promised to abide by through the primary season in exchange for public financing.
I want to return to this subject though because this is not hyperbole or some throw away line. He’s really doing it. McCain opting into public financing, accepted the spending limits and then profited from that opt-in by securing a campaign saving loan. And then he used some clever, but not clever enough lawyering, to opt back out. And the person charged with saying what flies and what doesn’t — the Republican head of the FEC — said he’s not allowed to do that. He can’t opt out unilaterally unless the FEC says he can.
Senator Obama’s word cannot be trusted? Senator McCain, Barack Obama is not currently breaking any campaign finance laws with his campaign. Barack Obama did not push through Congress a campaign finance law with his name on it.
Senator McCain, you are breaking your own law. Don’t preach to me about trust. You don’t have the credibility.
11 Responses to “McCain”
Keating Five.
Sums up McCain for me.
Lessee..we can’t trust either one of them, as Obama’s done the same thing.
(though I come from the opposite aisle as you, gracious host, I’m enjoying hearing both candidates trying to half-heartedly talk around things they’ve done in the past…..both showing about the same sincerity as a $3 bill)
Works for me. :^)
Bubba:
Please define “done the same thing”. Last I checked Obama hasn’t broken any campaign laws.
Obama promised to take public financing, but has reneged on it.
Campaign finance laws? Personally, I don’t care; beyond requiring that those making contributions identify themselves, most campaign finance laws are flat out unconstitutional. (if the 1st doesn’t protect your right to publish your own opinions, politically speaking, exactly what other right can it protect?)
But breaking your word? Now that’s a problem.
so breaking word = breaking the law?
Obama did what was best in order to run a successful campaign and broke no law doing so. He would have been an idiot to do otherwise.
Would you acknowledge that Obama’s situation has changed some since he made the pledge to take public financing? The inability to reevaluate the situation and come to a new conclusion is a hallmark of our current President. I am very happy to see that it may not be a hallmark for our next President. Not everything is a black and white decision and breaking your word has to be done sometimes in order to do what is best. That is part of being an adult.
Fundamentally, McCain is doing a similar thing as Obama. But McCain is breaking the law to do it. The fact that McCain was instrumental in constructing the current campaign finance laws make his situation even worse.
Sure, his situation has changed. That said, he made a promise, didn’t he?
Real men keep their promises, even when it hurts.
And my trouble with McCain is not that he violated unconstitutional laws. it’s that he helped to make them.
That said, he made a promise, didn’t he?
Real men keep their promises, even when it hurts.
Real men? How about we get real, as in realistic. We are picking a President, not a pope. These guys are politicians. If the President has to break a promise once in a while to protect this country I am not going to complain about it. Are you? And let’s be really real about this: how a candidate runs their campaign is a good indication as to how they will serve in office.
Obama is smart, realistic and pragmatic. McCain breaks the law when it serves his ends.
According to the Obama campaign… they did not keep their end of the deal as they felt that McCain’s campaign was not holding to the promise to only use public funding.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7463813.stm)
Now one can debate if who broke which promise when… I more view this as Obama’s inexperience (should not have made the promise to begin with, as financing situations change) then some major breach of trust.
In McCain’s case he is breaking the law promise or no. That, to me, is more severe. It shows he hasn’t learned the lessons he should have from the Keating Five days. Something he bubmled into due to poor management of campaign finances.
And my trouble with McCain is not that he violated unconstitutional laws. it’s that he helped to make them.
Is BB a Supreme Court justice? I don’t understand your comment at all — you’re fine with McCain not following the law that McCain himself created because in your estimation it is unconstitutional, even though McCain himself did not perceive it to be. I can’t even wrap my head around that logic — I guess I’ll never be a conservative.
Not a justice, but the genius of the Constitution is that it’s supposed to be understood by the common man. You see “right of the people”–well, that’s a right held by, you know, people. You see “Congress shall make no law”–well, that means that this area isn’t one where Congress can make decisions.
Not terribly complicated. Too bad we’ve forgotten, largely, the genius of the Founders. It doesn’t take a Justice to opine on whether an action is Constitutional or not, and there’s actually evidence that the SC wasn’t supposed to be the final arbiter; the people were more or less supposed to tell Congress where to go when unconstitutional laws (like McCain-Lenin-Feingold) are passed.