The Wall Street Journal runs a fascinating article on John McCain’s fundraising tactics, clearly skirting the intent of his own name-bearing campaign finance law.
McCain’s campaign has announced that it is asking individuals to donate as much as $70,000 to accounts that could help his campaign. The cap on donations to presidential candidates is $4,600 per election campaign.
But, the McCampaign has established several fund-raising accounts that will collect large donations from wealthy individuals and parcel them out to national and state Republican parties that can spend the money to help GOP presumptive nominee McCain and other Republican candidates.
The irony is not lost on those who have long objected to the outrageous constraints of McCain’s handcrafted campaign finance fiasco. And while the severe restrictions were oh-so-swell for other candidates to try to exist under, McCain is bristling under the weight of the self-imposed manacles himself and is determined to dodge them.
Treat yourself to the WSJ article detailing the contradictions here.
April 22, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Do as I say not as I do? So McCainian.
April 22, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I always thought McCain promoted campaign finance reform as an attempt to purify himself after his near fatal snafu with Charlie Keating. That was very close to ringing the death knell on his political aspirations, if you recall.
I’ve never been a fan of this system, which unduly limits free speech. Now that McCain finds it binds him too tightly, he is seeking to subvert the very scheme he promoted, Such hypocrisy!
April 22, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Let’s not be so hard on him and hold him to the same standards he wants others to adhere to. Such mean-spiritedness!
April 22, 2008 at 10:39 pm
McCain’s record is full of this type of duplicitous hypocrisy. He now talks about the need to be energy independent. He is the one person most responsible for us not being energy independent. He led the fight to prevent us from accessing our own oil. Every time we pay the high price for gas we can say thank you John McCain! High inflation, thank you John McCain! Junk Science Al Gore Global warming, thank you John McCain! Could we have a less qualified candidate running as a Republican? I can’t imagine it.
April 22, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Does anyone have a good eye specialist for McCain’s incredible short-sightedness?
April 23, 2008 at 7:46 am
Carrie:
You’ve got a good sense of humor as well as on target comments. This one made my morning! When McCain devised this sneak attack on candidates with his liberal dem buddy Russell Feingold, I imagine he never thought he would rue the day as his tactics would come back to bite him on the butt.
As Villanova correctly said, this was all part of a scheme to give himself cover after his deep involvement in the Keating Five scandal. He was in it up to his eyebrows with another AZ democrat, Dennis DeConcini.
A major problem with McCain has always been his alliances with the democrats and his disdain for those within his own party. He’d rather hang out with Ted Kennedy than any conservative. Remember that the Shamnesty bill that was finally derailed by outraged Americans was collusion between McCain, Jon Kyl and Ted Kennedy.
April 23, 2008 at 8:33 am
At least McCain has shown the good sense to stay out cars when Teddy’s doing the driving.