McCain vs. McCain

When it comes to Sen. John McCain vs. Sen. John McCain, the smart money bets on McCain. Confused? So is the Arizona senator, apparently.

As reader Nobody Important points out deep in a thread below, Sen. John McCain's recent outburst at billionaires meddling in politics is starkly at odds with his feelings from a few years ago.

In a 2001 Wash Post article about the founder of Monster.com's interest in gun control, McCain was strongly supportive:

For McCain, [Andrew] McKelvey's willingness to devote millions of dollars to influence lawmakers on issues such as gun control is something to be lauded rather than criticized. "I'm glad a guy with a billion dollars, or two billion dollars, wants to spend is money on an issue he feels strongly about," McCain says.

Whole story here.

And then there's the McCain of today. Or, more specifically, yesterday morning on Face the Nation, who attacked George Soros for, well, spending his money on an issue he feels strongly about: "I say shame on you, Mr. Soros, and shame on all of the people who are funding [527s]."

Whole bit here.

Comments

[Andrew Lynch]

Please...PLEASE...don't tell me Reason's still writing posts "busting" the hypocrisy of politicians.

[rst]

I so hate the BCFRA.

Yes, but encumbents love it, and it was soon-to-be encumbents who wrote it in the first place. That's one conflict of interests they'll freely allow in their political scene.

[Highway]

No, see, he's glad that a guy would WANT to spend money on an issue he cares about. That means he's not apathetic. McCain just doesn't want anyone to ACTUALLY spend any money on the issue, because that might give some people some information a politician didn't vet first. Can't have that unfettered information getting to people.

I so hate the BCFRA.