AZ Politics

Posted by: AzBlueMeanie

This past Tuesday, John McCain pandered to the GOP conservative base by vowing to appoint conservative activist judges like John Roberts, Jr. and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.  McCain praised the justices as role models for the judges he would appoint to the court.

Apparently everyone has kissed and made up over the Roberts’ Court striking down a big chunk of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA).

Or maybe McCain never really cared all that much about campaign finance reform in the first place.  McCain’s commitment to public financing questioned – The Boston Globe  His reputation as a campaign finance reformer is largely a media myth created by what McCain affectionately calls “his base.” 

Last year McCain carved out a loophole in the law to exempt aircraft owned by a candidate or his family or by privately held company they control.  This loophole allowed McCain to use his millionaire heiress wife’s private corporate jet at a substantial savings to his campaign.  McCain Frequently Used Wife’s Jet for Little Cost – New York Times  “Last summer, just before starting to use his wife’s plane, Mr. McCain was quoted in a newspaper report as saying that he did not plan to tap her substantial wealth to keep his bid for the Republican presidential nomination going.”  But boss, what about “Zee plane!  Zee plane!”

Last November when the McCain campaign had been declared dead by his media base (where’s the love?), McCain managed to negotiate a sweetheart deal with the Fidelity & Trust Bank in Maryland for a life saving loan to his campaign.  The $3 million line of credit was secured by his fundraising list and the highly unusual requirement that he take out a life insurance policy in case he did not survive the campaign.  With Crucial Loan, McCain Put His Bid Back in the Black – washingtonpost.com

Cleta Mitchell, a Republican campaign finance lawyer, said she believes the arrangement raises serious questions. "Did they base this loan on the fact that, even if he lost, he would still be a sitting senator and able to raise money?" she asked. "In my mind, that raises questions about whether he complied with Senate ethics rules," which bar members from using their position to negotiate financial terms that an average citizen could not.

Some may have seen the guest opinion in today’s Tucson Citizen announcing the Drinking Liberally / Smoking Conservatively Summit this Thursday starting at 6pm at the Shanty on 4th Avenue and 9th Street: Partisanship has acquired a bad name of late. It’s become closely associated with the name-calling, character assassination, fear mongering and actively misleading … Read more

"It’s like Hitler just invaded France," said a source in the moderate wing of the Pima County Republican Party of Joe Higgin’s likely primary challenge of Ann Day for Supervisor in District 1. That’s not just Godwin’s law in effect; my source only meant that a war that everyone knew was coming, and that many … Read more

Mr. Huckelberry: I got wind of your latest memo on election security [pdf download] by reading about it in a Tucson Citizen article. Given that you mentioned my name in the memo, I would have expected to receive a courtesy copy of the memo. Maybe my copy went astray. On page 14 of your memo … Read more

Posted by: AzBlueMeanie I am pleased that GOP Spartan agrees that the "McClinton Gas Tax Holiday Gimmick" is a bad idea and recognizes that the Bush administration’s weak dollar policy and reckless fiscal mismanagement of our economy, including the doubling of our national debt over 7 years, is largely responsible for our present economic condition. … Read more