Promises Broken: McCain is our GOP Hypocrite of the Week (Again)

August 7, 2008

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

Welcome back to the Buzzflash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

The last time John McCain was honored with our GOP Hypocrite of the Week award, it was for betraying his commitment to campaign finance reform. This week, he's at it again with duplicity to spare. So we're honoring McCain for eschewing two of his major promises: finance transparency and positive campaigning.

Due to mini scandals ranging from FEC problems to Jack Abramoff to Vicki Iseman, McCain's maverick reputation on campaign finance has been compromised of late. Over the last day or two, doubts have been raised about a bundler, Harry Sargeant III, who has pulled in hundreds of thousands of campaign contributions for McCain and other politicians. First profiled by the Washington Post, Sargeant is the owner of an oil company with government contracts that could bring him more than $1 billion.

Now, there's nothing illegal about bundling, as long as no one person donates more than $2,300 in the general election (with another allotment of $2,300 for the primaries). But there are indications the people who gave those checks to Sargeant weren't doing so out of love for McCain or the political process. 

According to The New York Times, some of the donors initially donated thousands more than the $2,300 limit. They are not your typical high-dollar contributors, with no history of political involvement. The article also quotes a few of the donors as saying they were signing the checks as a favor to bundlers, not in support of McCain. One said McCain is "like a worse copy than Bush" and that, even though he donated to McCain's campaign, he wouldn't be voting for the Senator in the November election.

Is this how American elections should be run? More to the point: Is this what McCain had in mind when he pushed for reforms in campaign finance?

As if that weren't enough, McCain is going back on another promise: positive campaigning. We can't really call McCain a hypocrite for lying, since he never promised not to lie, but that hasn't stopped him from telling tall tales. 

No, the name of the game here is hypocrisy, and McCain's newest ad campaign is spewing enough of that to go around.  

McCain's recent campaign kitsch is handing out tire pressure gauges that say "Obama Energy Plan." This is in response to Obama's helpful suggestion that drivers save gas by checking their tire pressure. This snarkiness backfired when McCain was forced to agree that Obama had a good point:

"Obama said a couple of days ago says we all should inflate our tires. I don't disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it."

Duplicitous pressure gauges are just another chapter in a larger volume of hypocritical moves made by the McCain campaign. As recently as April, McCain promised to run a respectful campaign and avoid any negative campaigning. In the past couple of weeks, he has shown his true "do as I say, not as I do" colors. 

One widely denounced campaign ad derisively compared Obama to celebrity flakes Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Then, McCain swore that mean ol' Obama played the race card, when it was McCain's own campaign that said Obama would look, hmm... funny? on Mt. Rushmore or the $100 bill, a story virtually ignored by the media. 

Watching the new McCain ads, what jumps out at the viewer first and foremost is that they focus much more on what is wrong with Obama, than what is right with McCain. Which is pretty much the definition of negative campaining. Oh, and did we mention that the "wrong with Obama" stuff usually relies on lies?

Lies aside, McCain's hypocrisy cup runneth over this week. Makes you wonder about his willingness to break other promises, like winning the war in Iraq and balancing the budget, if he gets into office.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon. 

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This is the third HOTW award for Sen. John McCain this year. He also won the award in 2007, 2006, and 2004.