April 04, 2008 11:51 PM UTC

McCain's Confessions of An Economic Hit Man

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• by: davidsirota

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

When John McCain ran for president in 2000, I will admit that I was impressed with his rhetoric. I know in this polarized time where people think of issues only in terms of Democrat and Republican that may be hard to believe, but I really thought he could be a guy who was serious about limiting the influence of money in politics. But as I say in my newspaper column out today (available for podcast here), by the time he hit Denver last week, I knew I was duped – and I know I was duped because I’ve seen him over the last few years become one of the most corrupt, flip-flopping politicians in America.

McCain was the guy who, in his push to bill himself as the campaign finance reformer, endorsed his state’s “clean elections” system whereby qualifying candidates get public funding, rather than having to finance their campaign with corporate cash. McCain taped radio ads supporting the system, and told PBS it was a national model. Yet, with his presidential campaign now swarming with lobbyists, he says he opposes public financing of elections.

His flip-flopping on campaign finance probably has a lot to do with his flip-flopping on the issues of most importance to big money. For example, he voted to stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in 2003, but then voted to allow drilling in 2005 and 2006. He has been rewarded with about $400,000 in presidential campaign contributions from oil and gas interests.

Of course, as Nancy Watzman notes, this is the 21st anniversary of the Keating Five affair – the influence-peddling scandal during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. McCain, you may recall, was a member of the Keating Five – and so this new McCain is really just a reversion to the old corrupt McCain. That goes even on specific issues like ANWR. Before voting against ANWR drilling and then for it, he originally voted for it in 1995.

Needless to say, the flip-flopping takes the shine off McCain’s “straight talker” veneer, showing that this guy’s entire campaign has become one long confession of an economic hit man. If you want to sign a petition asking McCain to support public financing of elections, go here.

You can read the whole column at the Denver Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Ft. Collins Coloradoan, In These Times, TruthDig, Credo Action or Alternet. Or, you can listen to my podcast of it here. The column relies on grassroots support, so if you’d like to see my column regularly in your local paper, use this directory to find the contact info for your local editorial page editors. Get get in touch with them and point them to my Creators Syndicate site. Thanks, as always, for your ongoing readership and help contacting local editors. This column couldn’t be what it is without your help.