The Problem With John McCain

I have a problem with John McCain, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a conservative. However, my problem with John McCain does have everything to do with his inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist, a relationship that apparently paid dividends for the company the lobbyist represented.

In late 1998, Senator John McCain sent an unusually blunt letter to the head of the Federal Communications Commission, warning that he would try to overhaul the agency if it closed a broadcast ownership loophole.

The letter, and two later ones signed by Mr. McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, urged the commission to abandon plans to close a loophole vitally important to Glencairn Ltd., a client of Vicki Iseman, a lobbyist. The provision enabled one of the nation’s largest broadcasting companies, Sinclair, to use a marketing agreement with Glencairn, a far smaller broadcaster, to get around a restriction barring single ownership of two television stations in the same city.

As if McCain’s inappropriate and unethical relationship with Vicki Iseman weren’t hypocritical enough for a man who once attacked lobbyists, he’s also now the subject of a complaint regarding his use of the prospect of nearly six million dollars in federal matching funds – which he now says he won’t claim – as collateral for a January campaign loan and to obtain automatic ballot access in every state. It’s important to note that the free automatic ballot access is a benefit that saved the McCain campaign millions of dollars that would have had to be spent in order to obtain ballot access in every state.

John McCain represents the very worst of our elected officials – a man who’s shown on more than one occasion that he’s not above getting dirty in the name of advancing himself. For a man who once rode the “Straight Talk Express” across America during his last campaign to sink to this level shows the full extent of John McCain’s hypocrisy and willingness to pander as much as it takes to get elected.