Bruce the Veep has come up with a three-fer, on the subject of Sen. McCain and his… troubles.
First, we learn that in the ultimate “hoist on your own petard” situation, McCain may be locked into too-low federal funding limits (limits he himself opposed raising!) and may open himself to charges of at best hypocrisy (McCain-Feingold was after all, his idea!) and at worst criminality (up to five years in jail and stiff fines!) if he tries to opt out, though if he is stuck with the federal spending limits… he can’t spend money til’ August! Part of the problem is that the Federal Election Commission has no quorum, as Bush insists on a notorious vote-suppresser on the commission (and the Senate charge to stop this is led by… wait for it… Sen. Barack Obama… swwwwweeeeeet!)
Meanwhile, McCain’s denials of the substance of the smear in the Times associated with a possible relationship and/or favors with lobbyist Vicki Iseman… it turns out that McCain’s denials are in conflict with earlier sworn statements he gave… oops…
And finally, it looks like the scandal is cramping McCain’s campaign style in troubling ways for him.
Time will tell. For Rudy, the combination sex/financial scandal of cooking City books to cover-up giving police chauffeur services to his paramour ended it for The-Hero-of-9/11(TM). While the aforementioned scandals will certainly undermine the pretense of “maverickness” and “reformer” for Sen. McCain… the fact is, Barack Obama could probably do that on his own. Ultimately, we will see if there is any substance to these problems, or if McCain can proceed in stride…
tdog
Haven’t had time to post lately, due to the incredible amounts of money to be had. But, I need to take a break. I offer a Campaign 2008 tale to be read no where else. And due to Hillary’s (is that how she spells it?, I never cared to learn) satellite-like freefall (for which she will be blown out of the sky come March 4th), it is time-sensitive. When Hillary first set up shop in DC, I was invited to one of her initial Georgetown parties. They invited everyone “in the system.” A true rogue’s gallery every night. Everyone knew that she was going to run, so the point of the parties was to gain intelligence and money to prepare. She devoted most of the mansion for this purpose. I think that there was only one functional bedroom in the place. Ten vaults, one bed. So Bill and Hillary ask me for my thoughts. I told them: “Hey, you’ve got what, five, six years to prepare for this thing. Make a list out of who’s likely to be running, and get them to withdraw by putting them on the “team” or with the use of some dirt on them. “What about Edwards?” they asked. I laughed, and then they did too. So they did what I told them (ok, they were going to do it anyway), and made a list of potential adversaries, and got the dirt on them, and if it didn’t exist, created it. Except they never updated the list, the list was as of 2002. Plus, no “accidental” plane crashes. Unbelievable right?
The joke of the day– as I blurted out in a conversation with Mr. Crabcake– who asked “While Hillary touts her ’35 years of experience’, can you name even one major bill that Hillary Clinton has attached her name to?” I answered, without hesitation… “Bill CLINTON”. That seems to explain her whole campaign in twenty-five words or less.