McCain Knocks Obama Over Public Financing
John McCain accused Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama of engaging in Washington doublespeak over accepting public financing for the general election as the likely GOP nominee tried to turn a money issue into a character test.
"We either keep our word or we don't keep our word. I intend to keep my word to the American people," McCain said Wednesday, pressing the line of criticism anew a day after delivering a blistering critique of the Illinois senator as both won their party primaries in Wisconsin.
"I think the American people would expect him to hold to that commitment, especially if we want to bring about change," McCain added.
In an opinion piece published in USA Today on Wednesday morning, Obama wrote that he wants to work toward a spending agreement with the Republican Party's nominee.
"I propose a meaningful agreement in good faith that results in real spending limits," Obama wrote. He laid out a series of conditions, including, perhaps, limiting how much money McCain can spend for the general election while the race for the Democratic nomination continues.
"That's Washington doublespeak," McCain responded. "I committed to public financing. He committed to public financing. It's not any more complicated than that. I'll keep my word, and I want him to keep his."
Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, hit back: "John McCain is in no place to question anyone on pledges when he abandoned the latest campaign finance reform efforts in order to run for the Republican nomination and went back on his commitment to take public financing for the primary election this year."
As Obama has lengthened his lead in the Democratic race, McCain has increasingly taken the one-term Illinois senator to task.
McCain, a four-term senator has started raising questions about Obama's experience level, seeming lack of foreign policy credentials, and, now, his character. In that process, McCain is espousing some arguments similar to those made by Hillary Rodham Clinton against Obama.
Obama's campaign, in turn, has started responding in force to the GOP's nominee-in-waiting.
In a conference call with reporters early Wednesday, Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice accused McCain of "misrepresenting and distorting" Obama's positions on Pakistan.
McCain, for his part, went on offense by again raising the spat over taxpayer financing of the general election. McCain clearly sought to raise a larger question: If Obama doesn't keep a promise on this issue, how can the public trust what he says he'll do in the White House?
A year ago, both McCain and Obama indicated that they would accept public financing for the general election if the other party's nominee did as well.
But Obama, whose fundraising has brought in record amounts of primary money, has hedged that position over the past week, giving McCain openings to pounce.
Last week, Obama said it would be "presumptuous of me to say now that I'm locking myself into something when I don't even know if the other side is going to agree to it."
McCain gave Clinton a pass on the issue, given that she never indicated she would forgo public financing.
A leading advocate of limits on campaign finances, McCain is turning down government matching funds for the primary to free himself to spend more money as he prepares for a general election contest.
As for accepting public money for the general election, McCain said: "I obviously would have to reevaluate if Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton does not make that commitment."
Each major party candidate could get about $85 million in public funds for the general election, but they would not be allowed to raise any other money. Such a step would clearly give the advantage to McCain, who dislikes fundraising, and would hinder Obama and his widespread fundraising apparatus. Obama's campaign has said it raised a whopping $32 million in January.
Both candidates would have to rely on outside groups and on the national parties to supplement their spending if they accepted public financing. The Republican National Committee has been the only national GOP organization to out-raise its Democratic counterpart. But political finance experts say Obama, if he's the nominee, could significantly buttress the Democratic National Committee's fundraising.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "We either keep our word or we don't keep our word. I intend to keep my word to the American people," McCain said Wednesday, pressing the line of criticism anew a day after delivering a blistering critique of the Illinois senator as both won their party primaries in Wisconsin.
"I think the American people would expect him to hold to that commitment, especially if we want to bring about change," McCain added.
In an opinion piece published in USA Today on Wednesday morning, Obama wrote that he wants to work toward a spending agreement with the Republican Party's nominee.
"I propose a meaningful agreement in good faith that results in real spending limits," Obama wrote. He laid out a series of conditions, including, perhaps, limiting how much money McCain can spend for the general election while the race for the Democratic nomination continues.
"That's Washington doublespeak," McCain responded. "I committed to public financing. He committed to public financing. It's not any more complicated than that. I'll keep my word, and I want him to keep his."
Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, hit back: "John McCain is in no place to question anyone on pledges when he abandoned the latest campaign finance reform efforts in order to run for the Republican nomination and went back on his commitment to take public financing for the primary election this year."
As Obama has lengthened his lead in the Democratic race, McCain has increasingly taken the one-term Illinois senator to task.
McCain, a four-term senator has started raising questions about Obama's experience level, seeming lack of foreign policy credentials, and, now, his character. In that process, McCain is espousing some arguments similar to those made by Hillary Rodham Clinton against Obama.
Obama's campaign, in turn, has started responding in force to the GOP's nominee-in-waiting.
In a conference call with reporters early Wednesday, Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice accused McCain of "misrepresenting and distorting" Obama's positions on Pakistan.
McCain, for his part, went on offense by again raising the spat over taxpayer financing of the general election. McCain clearly sought to raise a larger question: If Obama doesn't keep a promise on this issue, how can the public trust what he says he'll do in the White House?
A year ago, both McCain and Obama indicated that they would accept public financing for the general election if the other party's nominee did as well.
But Obama, whose fundraising has brought in record amounts of primary money, has hedged that position over the past week, giving McCain openings to pounce.
Last week, Obama said it would be "presumptuous of me to say now that I'm locking myself into something when I don't even know if the other side is going to agree to it."
McCain gave Clinton a pass on the issue, given that she never indicated she would forgo public financing.
A leading advocate of limits on campaign finances, McCain is turning down government matching funds for the primary to free himself to spend more money as he prepares for a general election contest.
As for accepting public money for the general election, McCain said: "I obviously would have to reevaluate if Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton does not make that commitment."
Each major party candidate could get about $85 million in public funds for the general election, but they would not be allowed to raise any other money. Such a step would clearly give the advantage to McCain, who dislikes fundraising, and would hinder Obama and his widespread fundraising apparatus. Obama's campaign has said it raised a whopping $32 million in January.
Both candidates would have to rely on outside groups and on the national parties to supplement their spending if they accepted public financing. The Republican National Committee has been the only national GOP organization to out-raise its Democratic counterpart. But political finance experts say Obama, if he's the nominee, could significantly buttress the Democratic National Committee's fundraising.
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1989, the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif., collapsed. Lincoln''''''''s chairman, Charles H. Keating Jr., was faulted for the thrift''''''''s failure. Keating, however, told the House Banking Committee that the FHLBB and its former chief Edwin J. Gray were pursuing a vendetta against him. Gray testified that several U.S. senators had approached him and requested that he ease off on the Lincoln investigation. It came out that these senators had been beneficiaries of $1.3 million (collective total) in campaign contributions from Keating.
This allegation set off a series of investigations by the California government, the United States Department of Justice, and the Senate Ethics Committee. The ethics committee''''''''s investigation focused on five senators: Alan Cranston (D-CA); Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ); John Glenn (D-OH); John McCain (R-AZ); and Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI), who became known as the Keating Five.
After months of testimony revealed that all five senators acted improperly to differing degrees, the senators continually said they were following the status quo of campaign funding practices. The only member of the Keating Five still in the U.S. Senate is John McCain.... The man with all the experience...
Then there is the story of the infamous border fence being built along the US / Mexico border, ostensibly to prevent illegal immigration. Many residents near the border have been grumbling about the fence going through their land, but there%u2019s one Texas resident that isn%u2019t worried at all, because the border fence will stop at his property: R. L. Hunt. I%u2019m sure the fact that he%u2019s a oil billionaire, who not only donated money to the Bush campaigns but also helped fund the upcoming presidential library and sits on the board for Halliburton had nothing to do with it.
Bay Buchanan said this after calling the NY Times/McCain love fest story a smear/hit job on CNN to Anderson Cooper:
Bay: This is not the Democratic Party, this is a party of values. We assume our candidates have been loyal to their family.
&^&*%#@!___Sorry, I%u2014just fell off my chair from laughter. Let%u2019s ask her about David Vitter and Larry Craig and Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani and. Bay, who was supporting the Mitt Romney campaign%u2014 feels it would have had an impact on the primary%u2026.David Gergen says it%u2019s a red herring that the Times held onto the story for political reasons and then he hit her on the family value meme by reminding her of the Mark Foley story. She just shrugged it off%u2026.haha
The Washington Post has a name and it%u2019s John Weaver%u2014a very close friend to McCain:
Aides to Sen. John McCain confronted a female telecommunications lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, according to one of McCain%u2019s longest-serving political strategists.
John Weaver, who served as McCain%u2019s closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last year, said he met with Vicki Iseman at the Center Cafe in Union Station and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded%u2026
Posted by b-easy63 at 10:44 PM : Feb 20, 2008
Mmmmm, you should really smoke just a little more crack before you start typing. You might make some sense then.
McCain is a fraud and should be rejected by even his own party if they ever intend to be in power again.