Opinion: John McCain's elephant

John McCain has an elephant; and that elephant is ethics. There are few things that we can be certain of with McCain: he is relentless in his pursuit for the White House; he has a deficiency when it comes to moral courage; and he will continue to pander and contradict. I will even go so far as to say, brace yourselves for this, that he is no better than George Bush. At least with Bush you know where his loyalties lie. John McCain continues to wax-poetics, making empty promises to anybody who can vote. McCain understands he cannot win the conservative base, and he cannot rely on traditional Republicans, so he is now a transient beggar on the campaign trail. In fact, with all that spinning from left to right I am unsure how the main can walk a straight line. But there it goes; this man is anything from the straight and narrow. Last year McCain made the comment, “If you're not tough enough to repudiate a scurrilous, outrageous attack such as that, then I don't know how you're tough enough to be president of the United States,” when referring to a controversial moveon.org advertisement. If this is McCain’s litmus test for being “tough enough to be president of the United States,” then let’s subject him to the test.

            Yesterday McCain rejected Pastor Hagee’s newest incendiary remarks concerning Jews. Remember, Hagee is the same man who called the Catholic religion a “Godless theology” and the Catholic church “the great whore.” Four months ago, knowing this, McCain still embraced his endorsement. But after this weeks newest ranting about Jews, McCain has formally rejected the endorsement. The problem lies with McCain accepting the endorsement in the first place. McCain knew he needed a prominent conservative voice to capture the Republican nomination, so he donned his skirt and lipstick, and solicited whatever favors he could. No longer needing the endorsement, and fearing an onslaught of media attention, McCain denounces the Pastor. Now McCain is just wishing it all away.    

            McCain’s fight against lobbyist and Washington influence is nothing more than a watershed attempt at garnering more votes from Middle America. But he isn’t fooling anybody. Look closely and you can see the money protruding from his pockets; in fact, if you turn him over he may even have a piggy bank depository slot. This week’s newest adventure in the land of McCainia is his attempt to purge lobbyist from his campaign. As stated in a previous blog, McCain employs more lobbyists on his campaign than any other candidate. He has had two high level advisers step down this week, one of them being Tom Loeffler, campaign co-chair. Are we seeing a pattern here? He uses whatever tools he has to his advantage then attempts to bury them before anybody finds out.

            How about transparency? Not in McCain’s world. We know that Barack Obama and his wife earned four million dollars last year, and Hillary and Bill earned over one hundred million since he left the White House; but we only know about John McCain, not Cindy. Cindy McCain absolutely refuses to release her statements. Why would the $100 million heiress not want us to see what she is hiding? Perhaps she paid off McCain’s lobbyist mistress, or purchased more illegal prescription drugs. But the latter is not plausible, as the DEA and attorney general already know, she steals them, she doesn’t pay for them.

            It is just as well, though, for McCain. He will continue to try to cover his trail of dishonesty. After the Keating 5 scandal, which McCain received light punishment (perhaps Cindy paid them off), he promised never to fly directly from Washington to Phoenix, as to avoid the impression of self-interest, because he sponsored a law that opened the route nearly a decade ago. However, McCain continues to use corporate jets of business executives seeking his support, including Fox News founder, Rupert Murdoch. He also has uses his wife’s corporate jet at a steeply discounted rate, saving his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars.

            What other ethics violations has McCain committed? According to factcheck, “Mr. McCain helped found a nonprofit group to promote his personal battle for tighter campaign finance rules. But he later resigned as its chairman after news reports disclosed that the group was tapping the same kinds of unlimited corporate contributions he opposed, including those from companies seeking his favor.” Another site, described John McCain’s small, but symbolic violation of Senate rules.  While on Capitol Hill, McCain left the Senate floor and used his cell phone to call his top fund-raisers and urge them to keep up the fight. Senate ethics rules forbid “lawmakers to engage in campaign activities inside Senate facilities. If Mr. McCain solicited campaign contributions on a call from government property, that would be a violation of federal criminal law as well,” said one senate leader. A bit of hypocrisy added into the mix as well. According to one report, “ten years ago he led Republican calls for an independent prosecutor to investigate accusations of violations of the same rules by Vice President Al Gore. Mr. McCain went on to make the episode a cornerstone of both his 2000 Republican primary campaign and his argument for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.” 

            McCain is an ethical man, only if they don’t impede his path of unethical behavior. How are we supposed to trust somebody who will pander for an endorsement, then leave them when they are no longer needed? Or how can we trust a man who calls for transparency, but maintains a privacy wall over half his life? And how can you believe a person that legislates one thing, while continuing to do just the opposite. In all honesty, McCain’s aging body will give out from the vertigo caused by all his spinning, ducking, and dodging, or he will eventually catch some type of STD from all his solicitations.