Me: If Michael Bloomberg offered me candy and a ride in his limo, should I take it?
Skeeter: absolutely.
Skeeter: and if he offers you, say, Malta, you should take that, too.

Man Up, John McCain
I am both an admirer and a supporter of Senator John McCain (R, Arizona). In 2000, I donated money to his presidential bid, the only time I have ever given money to a political campaign, and voted for him in Michigan's primary. That said, it's time for McCain to man up, take responsibility for the consequences of his actions, and stop engaging in the kind of doubletalk he deplores in others. McCain is broadly seen as being a straight-talker - his 2000 campaign caravan was called the Straight Talk Express - but regarding the 527's that are partially defining this Fall's presidential race, his statements have been, at best, misleading. Yesterday, I received an email from Senator McCain that said the following:

I hear it all the time these days, from political pros on the left and the right. The McCain-Feingold campaign-reform law, they tell me, turned out to have a big downside: the rise of so-called 527 groups, with their billionaire backers and nasty, negative television ads that threaten to bring politics to a new low. There is only one problem with this argument. It is completely false....

Why are these groups allowed to break the law? Because of the Federal Election Commission's despicable failure to do its job.

My only problem with Senator McCain's position, which is factually accurate, is that we all know the FEC never does it's job. The FEC is a paper tiger! He knew the FEC was powerless when he and Senator Feingold exerted a Herculean effort to get the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation passed! In both his books, Faith of My Fathers and Worth the Fighting For, McCain chronicles the many creative ways money (and with it influence) finds its way into the political system. He anticipated that political operatives on both sides would find ways to circumvent McCain-Feingold; so, now that those operatives have found a way to circumvent McCain-Feingold, why won't he just admit it? Obviously, he doesn't want 527 status to be abused the way it is today, but he knew before he authored McCain-Feingold that the FEC is all but powerless. It is a cop out to say that this entire mess is the FEC's fault, since he knew full well that McCain-Feingold would force soft money to be spent in new and different ways and that the FEc would be unable to stop it.

I'm just disappointed in McCain. He spends all of his time saying people should stand up for what they believe in, that they should take responsibility for their actions and the consequences of their actions, but then when the opportunity comes for him to stand up and say, "The abuse of 527 status is an unfortunate side effect of campaign finance reform. That does not mean that campaign finance reform was not a good idea, it only means that now we have to take further steps to stop the abuse of 527 status," he instead chose to blame everything on the FEC. Today, he sounds like just another politician.

H-A-N
Have a blood sucking night.