Must Read Of The A.M.
John McCain's lobbyist woes continue today, as The Washington Post reports that his fifth top adviser has resigned because of revelations that he lobbied for Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments. Tom Loeffler, McCain's national finance co-chairman, stepped aside yesterday.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis issued an edict last week calling for all McCain staffers to sever lobbyist ties and links to other political groups or resign.
The McCain team is telling reporters that the lobbyist flap is a matter of perception, that to avoid the appearance of any impropriety, it's time for a house cleaning. But this mess could spell greater trouble for McCain, who needs to use his longstanding reputation as a crusader for campaign finance reform, a good government guy, in the general. For five top advisers to have to abandon ship is a an indicator that many in the top echelon of the campaign had the poor judgment -- and a Bush administration-esque (new word) arrogance -- to think they could do both.
Meanwhile, as The Hotline noted last week ... With public attention laser-focused on the Democratic primary feud between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, McCain's had months to quietly rejigger his staff. What's taken him so long?
I understand anew why the McCain camp went absolutely ballistic when I wrote last month that former FL senator Connie Mack, now a health care industry lobbyist, introduced McCain at his big health care policy speech in the Sunshine State. At the time, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said the item "borders on ludicrous, absurd and ridiculous."
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
Wow, you noticed! Amazing! This just in: McCain's campaign is funded AND run by lobbyists!
Now what about Charlie Black, McCain's CHIEF POLITICAL ADVISOR and notorious lobbyist whose clients include some of the world's worst dictators and terrorists? You leave him out of this piece entirely. Why?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCYmjjxp8I
Btw, Jen, you should have left off the last paragraph. It reads like a 3rd-grade playground nah-nah behavior. It's not about YOU and your inexplicable ego, Jen, it's about the fact that John McCain's entire campaign is run and funded by lobbyists.
Well, I understand why she put in the last paragraph: it follows nicely from the penultimate one. "You've had months to fix your staff. Even _I_ told you about it."
Having said that, the point is well-taken. At a time when it would take a herculean effort by a bad candidate (McCain) to overtake even the inertia of a bad Republican year, the McCain campaign seems adrift. And then they commit political suicide by removing the very people who have the savvy to move him forward. Who are they going to get to replace them? Karl Rove?
If you're going to re-tool, the time to do it is when the spotlight is on someone else. That would have been in the last two months, not now.