Senatorial Scuffling :: Free Realms

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#1 Feb 07 2006 at 9:21 AM Rating: Decent

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/07/mccain.obama/index.html wrote:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain unleashed an unusually biting and blunt broadside Monday against one of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, accusing the freshman senator of backtracking on a previous commitment to help develop a bipartisan proposal for lobbying and ethics reform.

Now, I'm not too knowledgeable of politics, I just don't have much of a handle for it. So I figure I'd put this to you guys, since there are strong voices on either side in here:

Does McCain have a legitimate right to be upset over this? Or is he over-reacting? Or is he hypocritically "glossing" over the situation to make himself/Republicans look like he/they is/are the only one(s) looking for a middle ground?

From my limited viewpoint, I agree that McCain has cause to be upset over the change of heart that Obama seems to have had, though I wonder how much of it was actual gloss as opposed to peer pressure from his fellow Democrats. McCain seems to me to be a very level-headed politician, and one of the few you could call "honest" and not be lying out your left (or right, if you're a Pubbie) *** cheek to do so. That is, from what I've seen of him.

How do the Asylum pundits call this one?

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#2 Feb 07 2006 at 9:34 AM Rating: Excellent

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Obama's a rising star. McCain wanted him on board for his, McCain's, bipartisan reform idea.

There's probably more to it, as well: McCain has been around for a few decades and has a pretty good grasp of how things work; whereas Obama is a freshman and lacks the same insight - or, for that matter, any amount of clout to buck the Democrats' existing system. So I imagine McCain feels pretty frustrated as he perceives Obama being led down the "wrong" path.

McCain's always pretty hot tempered, though. I think Obama is correct in refraining from responding in kind, whatever he thinks privately.

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#3 Feb 07 2006 at 9:41 AM Rating: Decent

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Remember that everything in politics has a short shelf life. If it made the news, it is directed at buffing someone's appearance for an event that is at most a few months away.

Most importantly for McCain, he is actively promoting several republicans for their 2006 Senatorial elections. He has also publicly stated that he will decide whether or not to run for President, after the 2006 mid term elections.

Politics is very similar to a game of chess. He's just making moves to keep in the public eye with the appearance that he wants to portray. This will allow him to judge whether or not to run in 2008, based upon how his pandering to the public affects the outcome of the election coming up in November.

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#4 Feb 07 2006 at 10:22 AM Rating: Decent

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While Obama is the new kid on the block, McCain, in my view, has been one of the most level headed Repubs out there today.

Quote:

McCain also told the Illinois Democrat that "I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's efforts to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness."

Most know that anything Obama does is only a political move on his part. Sure, he seemed to actually care about some issues but Politicians are just that, Politicians. Most just have their eye on that big house in D.C. and not on the people in the streets.

Quote:

"I know you have expressed an interest in creating a task force to further study and discuss these matters, but I and others in the Democratic caucus believe the more effective and timely course is to allow the committees of jurisdiction (in the Senate) to roll up their sleeves and get to work on writing ethics and lobbying reform legislation that a majority of the Senate can support," Obama wrote.

It's about fu[/i]cking time! How many task-force horses[i]hit must we sit through? Quit over analyzing everything and do something.

Quote:

American people do not see this as just a Republican problem or just a Democratic problem."

I wonder what America they are talking about? Certainly not this America where most people that vote are single issue voters that only care about the SINGLE thing that panders to their religious, moral or pie-in-the-sky nonsense.

I say Obama and McCain just Thunderdome it and get it over with.

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#5 Feb 07 2006 at 10:44 AM Rating: Excellent

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kaeleshtheklingon wrote:

I wonder what America they are talking about? Certainly not this America where most people that vote are single issue voters that only care about the SINGLE thing that panders to their religious, moral or pie-in-the-sky nonsense.

I assume Obama meant that most people don't view lobbying and campaign reform as a single sided issue. Which is probably correct.

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Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.

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#6 Feb 07 2006 at 11:02 AM Rating: Decent

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Jophiel wrote:

kaeleshtheklingon wrote:

I wonder what America they are talking about? Certainly not this America where most people that vote are single issue voters that only care about the SINGLE thing that panders to their religious, moral or pie-in-the-sky nonsense.

I assume McCain meant that most people don't view lobbying and campaign reform as a single sided issue. Which is probably correct.

Fixed

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#7 Feb 07 2006 at 11:24 AM Rating: Excellent

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Indeed!

Which actually makes more sense since the Republicans are presenting a "everyone does it" defense against the Democratic "Culture of Corruption" offense.

I confess to not yet having read the article and took the quote in context of what was before it.

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Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.

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