McCain To Obama: Thanks For Lying To Me
John McCain has released a letter to Barack Obama that’s quite remarkable in its undisguised hostility:
“I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform were sincere,” McCain writes.
…”When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership’s preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter. … I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in political to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again.”
Whoa…that’s-a one spicy meatball…
UPDATE 9:42 a.m.: The Chicago Tribune points out something that had also crossed my mind: this might not be the smartest move for a man known for his temper who wants to make a serious run in 2008:
McCain, who is serving his fourth term in the Senate, is known for his sharp tongue and long memory. Even in deeply partisan Washington, the tenor of his letter was rare enough for it to become hot e-mail fodder Monday afternoon, where it was sent from office to office on Capitol Hill and beyond under a one-word subject line: “Wow!”
Sometimes, when the politically correct facade slips ever so slightly, you can see that some of our leaders still have balls.
Too bad the slips are temporary.
That’s interesting.
I was thinking exactly the opposite — that this might be the sort of thing that reminds the GOP base that this guy is indeed a Republican, and that with a sarcastic, combative Democratic Party to contend with, this guy would be a President who wouldn’t spend six months as a Democratic punching bag before thinking about hitting back on the War in Iraq.
Nicely timed, as well — it’s just fully entered the GOP “conventional wisdom” that the President’s new strategy of hitting back (on retreat from Iraq, on second guessing as a strategy, and on the NSA wiretapping) is the right way to go. (Whether or not it really is the right way to go, that is the GOP CW right now.)
Also, note that it recasts McCain-Feingold (and the Gang of Fourteen — which no longer seems to need recasting) as a useful credential. Senator McCain is entirely credible when he says that he’s working to get a bipartisan solution to corrupt lobbying and Democrats are just trying to make political hay out of it. Senator Frist could scream that until he was blue in the face and never make anything like the impact this letter will have for defusing the partisan use of this issue in November.
(Don’t get me wrong — I still have reservations about McCain for President — just saying this looks like a savvy political move to me.)
Clint, overall, I agree with you – it’s probably a net plus – however, should McCain make any outbursts nearer to 2008, you can bet the old ‘McCain’s too angry’ meme will make the rounds…
I do think it’s interesting to see what happens when the two senators who get the most slavishly adoring press fight. Who should they slavishly adore now?
Mark-
You may well be right.
A couple of thoughts in the other direction, though — first, if he can get credit for helping to defuse the impact of Abramoff on Senate races in ’06, he’ll build a significant amount of credit with his fellow GOP senators. We may not have smoke-filled rooms for candidate selection any more, but that kind of credit still makes a big difference.
Second, it’s often wise to get your negatives aired publicly well in advance of the campaign. This is one of the few advantages “early favorites” have. America was surprised when Gennifer Flowers came forward with her allegations against Bill Clinton — in late 1991. By November 1992 the news that he was a bit of a lech had played out, and had little effect on the election. The American people are likely to forgive McCain his temper because it’s part of what they love about him — that he speaks his mind.
The thing I like about McCain (but even more for my main guy, Rudy) is precisely this lack of decorum – you get a glimpse of them being genuine people with actual feelings regarding matters that are important to them.
I’ve always hated it when during Senate debates we have the ritualistic posturing with such phrases as …”while I respectfully disagree (he’s an idiot) with the distinguished Senator (douchebag) from the great state of(podunksville), nevertheless I must state (bloviate) for the record…
Less pomposity, more plainspokeness is rarely a bad thing, at least in my book.
I’ve never been a McCain man but he’s greasing my skids lately. Whatever else comes of this it seems that McCain is learning just how far you can trust a Democrat. Shot-put range is a stretch. Welcome to the Party, Johnny.
It would be interesting to know what Obama’s side of the story is…
Peter – on the local TV/radio news here, as well as in the local papers, he’s not saying too much at the moment.
I voted for the guy, and I like the job he’s done so far – but if he skunked out on a previous agreement here, then it will be interesting to hear a fuller reaction from him shortly.