“Senator Straight-Talk” Considered Bolting GOP in 2001

What was that about Senator John McCain being a man of steadfast, unwavering principle?

Well, according to an alarming March 29, 2007 story in The Hill, it would appear that the Arizona Senator’s knack for abandoning his so-called principles for the purpose of political expediency extends beyond the issue of campaign finance.

 According to the piece…

“McCain was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before Sen. Jim Jeffords famously announced his decision to become an independent…”

Jeffords’ decision handed control of the Senate to the Democrats.  Apparently, that could have been McCain.

Interestingly enough, Candidate McCain is out there trying to brand himself as a conservative as he seeks the 2008 GOP nomination.  Readers of this blog already know that he refuses to abide by the same speech limitations he seeks to legislatively impose on everyone else through his so-called “campaign finance reform” agenda. 

However, most striking is, according to the story, it was not Democrats who approached the Arizona Senator about switching parties in 2001.  Rather, it was McCain’s chief political strategist John Weaver who approached them.

Former Senate Majority and Minority Leader Tom Daschle reports in his new book that he met with McCain several times in April and May of 2001 about the conditions under which McCain would make the jump. 

According to Daschle, such conditions included committee memberships and seniority:

“We had meetings and conversations on the floor and in his office, I think in mine as well, about how we would do it, what the conditions would be.  We talked about committees and his seniority.  [A lot of issues] were on the table.”

And it wasn’t only Daschle with whom McCain was negotiating.

According to The Hill story…

“Other senators who played major roles in the intense recruiting effort, according to Democrats, were then-Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) as well as Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.).”

Some company.

McCain “Big Loser” Out of Fundraising Gate

Already stumbling badly in opinion polls, Sen. John McCain had been desperately attempting to lower expectations regarding his first-quarter fundraising efforts.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t lower them enough.

Despite being labeled “McCain, Inc.” as the longtime establishment frontrunner for the GOP nomination, McCain finished an anemic third among his fellow Republican candidates in the first-quarter fundraising reports.

McCain’s campaign announced this week that he raised $12.5 million during the first quarter, losing further ground to Romney and Giuliani who reported $23 million and $15 million respectively.

According to Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Viriginia’s Center for Politics…

“Everyone agrees the big loser is John McCain.”

McCain Admits Lackluster Fundraising

Two months and counting since CFIF challenged Sen. John McCain to “talk straight” with Americans about whether he’ll campaign within the same public financing system that he helped force upon the country, the wheels on his floundering campaign bandwagon continue to wobble.   

The Associated Press reports that Sen. McCain is retreating to the old tactic of “lowering expectations” as the first campaign fundraising deadline approaches.  That deadline provides an early insight into the strength of each candidate’s campaign, and therefore can create or stifle the candidates’ momentum.  The fact that Sen. McCain is already rationalizing his numbers indicates that all is not so rosy in “$traight-Talk Expre$$” Land. 

According to Sen. McCain…

“We started late, our money raising, and we’re going to pay a price for it because we got off to a late start.  I enjoy [campaigning] more than I enjoy raising money.” 

Call us crazy, but that sounds strange, given the fact that the McCain juggernaut has effectively been rolling for years now. 

Even yesterday’s AP report on this story states that McCain’s admission “is surprising for a top-tier Republican candidate,” and that McCain, “who got off to an early start with the announcement of an exploratory committee last year, was considered the Republican front-runner.”  The AP report further acknowledges that McCain’s staff includes many of President Bush’s campaign veterans, and that he entered the race with approximately $500,000 from his Senate account.  This led commentator Robert Novak to label Sen. McCain’s campaign “McCain, Inc.” 

Regardless, McCain will now attempt to play “catch-up” by raising enormous sums through private fundraisers. 

Obviously, this again raises the question on Americans’ minds: why does Sen. McCain continue to hypocritically advocate the deplorable public financing system while stuffing his campaign coffers outside of that system?  That is, if he can attract enough dollars from a GOP base that he has sought to silence. 

 

 

McCain: A Foe of Individual Freedom

As part of an ongoing effort to evaluate the records of the 2008 Presidential hopefuls, the Club for Growth, an organization devoted to advancing the principles of low taxes, limited government and individual freedom, is in the process of producing a series of white papers on the candidates.  Today, the group released its assessment of Senator John McCain.

Club for Growth Chairman Pat Toomey today summarized the McCain paper in today’s Wall Street Journal.

The paper analyzes numerous votes throughout McCain’s 24-year record in Congress.  Based on that analysis, Toomey’s conclusion is: John McCain “is not a consistent defender of individual freedom.”

And of all of McCain’s “infringements on personal freedom” highlighted in the paper, what was the most worrisome according to Toomey?

You guessed it.  Senator McCain’s persistent assault on the First Amendment.

Toomey writes…

“[O]f all his infringements on personal freedom, Sen. McCain’s persistent attacks on political speech are the most worrisome. The First Amendment is an important safeguard of pro-growth policies. When government strays from sound economic policies, citizens must be free to exercise their constitutional rights to petition and criticize those policies and the politicians responsible for them. The 2002 McCain-Feingold bill (or the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act), named in part for the Arizona senator who gave it life, seeks to squash political dissent by imposing grossly unconstitutional restrictions on citizen participation in political debate. “In defense of the bill’s provision severely limiting the freedom of private groups to run political TV ads, Sen. McCain argued in a Supreme Court brief, ‘These ads are direct, blatant attacks on the candidates. We don’t think that’s right.’ He thus anointed himself the arbiter of appropriate political speech, worthy of deciphering which speech is ‘right’ and which should be permitted in American political debate. His law constitutes the greatest modern infringement of the First Amendment right to political free speech. While bestowing significant advantages upon incumbent office holders, it has created neither a less corrupt political domain nor a more democratic one.”

The Club for Growth paper goes further. 

Toomey notes that while Arizona Senator has amassed some “pro-growth” votes throughout his career…

… “[McCain's] vigorous opposition to the most pro-growth tax cuts in 20 years, and his outspoken pursuit of anti-growth and anti-free market policies in the realms of regulation, entitlement reform and campaign finance reveal a philosophical ambivalence, if not hostility, toward limited government and personal freedom.”

Toomey elaborates by pointing out that McCain was only one of two GOP Senators to vote against the Bush tax cuts in 2001, and only one of three Senators to oppose further cuts in 2003. 

As if opposing tax relief for all Americans wasn’t enough, Toomey notes that McCain joined with some of the Senate’s most liberal members to “undermine them,” and using the most “radical, left-wing” class warfare rhetoric to do so.

In addition to McCain’s opposition to income and investment tax relief, the Club for Growth highlights other problems with McCain’s record, including:

• His consistent opposition to repealing the death tax;

• His support of a proposal to raise social security taxes;

• His sponsorship with Ted Kennedy and John Edwards of the Patients Bill of Rights;

• His support of price controls on prescription drugs; and

• His opposition to helping reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil by opening ANWR to safe and responsible production.

McCain’s ‘Double Talk’ on Public Financing Blasted

As much as it pains us to point readers’ attention to anything even remotely associated with Howard Dean, we just couldn’t ignore the DNC’s March 9th Report titled, “McCain’s Double Talk Express Hits A Fork in the Road.”

 While we strongly disagree with the motivation behind the DNC’s report (Liberals actually support McCain-style assaults on political speech), we must admit that they have done a decent job at highlighting McCain’s “flip-flopping for political gain” on his signature issue — so-called “Campaign Finance Reform.”

McCain had long been a champion of public financing and campaign spending limits.  But that was before his “straight talking” principles stood as a roadblock to his bid for the GOP nomination.  As the DNC report points out (and as we have been noting for months)…

“Now … McCain’s campaign ‘is still studying whether to forgo the public financing and spending limits’ and has said that he ‘will not be handicapped by restrictions his competitors will not face in 2008.’

 The DNC goes further…

 McCain Then:
“McCain the reformer worked unsuccessfully through Congress and the courts to try to stop nonprofit political groups known as 527s from using unlimited donations to run political ads and fund other activities … in the run-up to elections.”

• McCain Now: “At least six of McCain’s first eight national finance co-chairmen have given or raised large donations for political parties or 527 groups, campaign and IRS records show. In all, the finance co-chairs have given at least $13.5 million in soft money and 527 donations since the 1998 election.”

It is important for us to mention that while the DNC would like to see McCain’s ban on 527s passed, CFIF believes such a ban would further violate the free speech and association rights of all Americans.  (As we noted further up in this post, we don’t agree with the context of the DNC report.)

More…

Mitt Romney: “If I’m President, I will fight to repeal McCain-Feingold”

At this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC, all of the GOP candidates were there in full force.  Giuliani, Romney, Gilmore, Newt, Brownback, Tancredo and Hunter all gave speeches.  Even Ron Paul and John Cox were there to address the audience.

Who is missing from that list?  Oh yeah, John McCain.  The Arizona Senator refused to address the largest annual gathering of conservatives from across the country.  And judging by the response from the massive crowds, he wasn’t missed.

Indeed, the response to Governor Romney’s speech summed up the anti-McCain mood of the crowd, not to mention a primary reason behind such a mood. 

About half way through the speech, Romney stated…

“To me, a fundamental principle of democracy is at stake.  It is the people who are sovereign in America, not a few folks in black robes.  Time and again … judges add things that aren’t in the Constitution, and they take away things that are in the Constitution.  And in that regard, they let the campaign finance lobby take away First Amendment rights.  If I’m elected president, I will fight to repeal McCain-Feingold.” [Emphasis ours]

It was by far one of the loudest applause lines of the entire conference. 

Check out more video of that portion of Romney’s speech here.

McCain a Dismal 5th in Conservative Straw Poll

Sen. John McCain’s unpopular candidacy among conservatives was evident at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  Not only was McCain the only GOP candidate who refused to attend the conference, his ongoing assault on political speech, his position on immigration, and numerous other factors led the record-breaking crowd to erupt in “boos” everytime the Arizona Senator’s name was merely mentioned.

Needless to say, it wasn’t a surprise when the results of the Conference Straw Poll were announced on Saturday afternoon.  McCain came in a dismal 5th place.  Romney, Giuliani and Brownback were the first, second and third choices respectively at the conservative gathering, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich taking the 4th spot.

Senator McCain, your ongoing assault on the First Amendment is not popular with Conservatives!  When are you going to learn?

The straw poll was conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates.

As McCain Raises Private $$$, He Still Refuses to ‘Talk Straight’ on Public Financing

It’s been 3 1/2 weeks since the Center for Individual Freedom asked Sen. McCain to “talk straight” with the American people about whether he will campaign within the presidential public financing system as he seeks the GOP nomination.  Yet, he remains silent — other than his campaign saying that the Arizona Senator hasn’t made up his mind.

But his silence, while not surprising, is, at the very least, disingenuous.

Senator McCain is vowing to introduce legislation in the 110th Congress to further limit political speech as part of his ongoing “reform” agenda.  But his game of political dodge ball on the question above would indicate that he doesn’t want to limit his own speech by abiding by limitations similar to those he seeks to impose on everyone else.

Moreover, it has been widely reported that Candidate McCain is out there raising enormous sums of private money (from sources he once shunned) to support his Presidential bid.  Indeed, once he formally announces his candidacy, McCain’s fundraising activity, should it exceed a certain level, will disqualify him from receiving public money — at least in the GOP Primary.

As “Straight Talk?” readers know, Senator Obama has recently asked the FEC for an advisory opinion on whether his campaign can begin raising private funds with the intention of returning them in favor of public money should both major political parties’ candidates ultimately agree to do so in the general election.  If the FEC rules in Obama’s favor, this will certainly create a dilemma for other candidates, including McCain.

That point was not missed by David Kirkpatrick of The New York Times.  Writing last week about the issue, Kirkpatrick noted…

“[Obama] asked the commission if he could begin soliciting private donations with the understanding that he might later return the money to his contributors. If he won the Democratic nomination, he could then strike a deal with the Republican nominee to return their private donations and use only public money for the general election. For 2008, that would limit each general election campaign to about $85 million. …

“Mr. Obama’s filing raises delicate questions for some of his rivals. Three of them — Mrs. Clinton and John Edwards among the Democrats, and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona — have begun raising private contributions outside the public financing system. All three have said they value the public financing system and support updating it to keep it alive. Mr. McCain in particular has led efforts to tighten campaign finance laws.”

While Kirkpatrick went further in quoting a McCain spokesman as seemingly taking offense to Obama’s request…

 “[A]spokesman for Mr. McCain suggested that Mr. Obama was trying to have it both ways, preserving the possibility of taking public money if he could not bring in enough private donations. ‘Is he asking for the option of whatever is the higher number?’ Matt David, the spokesman, asked.”

… he also noted:

“Although Mr. McCain’s campaign has sought donations that would be illegal for a candidate who takes public money to accept, his aides have asserted that no decision has been made and said that the campaign might return the contributions.”

It sounds to us like McCain is the one who “wants to have it both ways.”  It is clear to everyone that McCain has no intention of abiding by the limitations of the public financing system — at least in the GOP Primary.  So why not “talk straight” with the American people?

Is it because Senator McCain’s past support of public financing, his sponsorship of and advocacy for McCain-Feingold, and his ongoing assault on the free speech and association rights of the American people in the current Congress make Candidate McCain a hypocrite on this issue?

We will let readers answer that question.

CNS News Covers Conservative Coalition Letter to McCain

CNS News today ran a story on the McCain coalition letter. 

The piece, titled “Conservatives Warn McCain About Additional Speech Infringements,” can be found here.

Conservatives Warn McCain About Additional Speech Infringements
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
February 14, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - Grassroots conservatives want Sen. John McCain to know how strongly they oppose his continuing efforts to “muzzle political speech.”

A coalition of conservative groups warns that McCain, in various public statements, has signaled his intention to introduce legislation that would ban so-called “527″ political organizations. …

Conservatives to McCain: Abandon Plans to Further Muzzle Political Speech!

In a letter sent today to Sen. John McCain, a coalition of nearly 20 grassroots, legal and public policy organizations emphatically expressed their opposition to any attempts by the Arizona Senator and Presidential hopeful to further muzzle political speech.   

The letter was sent in response to recent and numerous public statements by McCain’s Senate office and Presidential campaign staff announcing his intention to further limit political speech by introducing legislation in the 110^th Congress to ban so-called “527” organizations.   And it points to the irony of McCain’s plans, noting that the very 527 organizations the Senator now seeks to silence are a direct consequence of the McCain-Feingold legislation passed by Congress in 2002. 

The letter reads, in part…

“We hold the 2002 McCain-Feingold legislation to be one of the greatest legislative assaults on the First Amendment ever passed by Congress.  Just as we opposed that legislation, so too do we oppose any further restrictions on political speech.” 

The groups represented on the letter also pointed to McCain’s seeming unwillingness to limit his own speech by campaigning within the Presidential public financing system as he seeks the 2008 GOP nomination. 

 “We find it troubling that you would introduce and advocate new speech-stifling legislation at a time when it appears that your presidential campaign is willing to forego similar limitations in favor of your political aspirations. … To be clear, as a matter of principle we consider it fundamentally improper for taxpayer dollars – even if voluntary – to be used to subsidize political campaigns.  As you seek, however, to further suppress the voices of the American people at times when it’s most important for them to speak – during elections – we remain curious as to why you haven’t committed to applying similar speech limitations to your own campaign.”   

The letter to Senator McCain was signed by representatives of 18 organizations on behalf of millions of grassroots Americans across the United States.  Groups represented on the letter include: Center for Individual Freedom, American Conservative Union, James Madison Center for Free Speech, Citizens United, The National Center for Public Policy Research, Institute for Liberty, Citizen Outreach Project, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary, RightMarch.com, JunkScience.com, Americans for Prosperity – Texas, GrassTopsUSA, Taxpayers League of Minnesota, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Frontiers for Freedom, Liberty Coalition, GrassrootsFreedom.com and Conservative HQ.