John McCain’s website tells visitors, “Too often the special interest lobbyists with the fattest wallets and best access carry the day.”
It’s become an increasingly amusing line as the senator’s presidential campaign has unfolded. We now know, for example, that McCain’s campaign staff is dominated by corporate lobbyists, and he adds new ones all the time.
The subject came up briefly during last night’s “60 Minutes” interview.
Pelley: You point your finger at other senators and claim that there is culture of corruption on Capitol Hill. But you take money from lobbyists who have business before your committee, as other senators do. So how is it that you call the system corrupt?
McCain: Well, one of the reasons why I call the system corrupt is because we have members of Congress who are in jail, who are former members of Congress. But it’s not the individuals, it’s the system we have today. I believe that I serve with honorable men and women. And I believe the people who bring their case to government, the overwhelming majority of them are honorable people.
Pelley: The lobbyists?
McCain: Retirees have a lobbyist, firemen have a lobbyist. Your business has a lot of lobbyists, a lot of lobbyists.
So, when McCain blasts the role of lobbyists in the political process, he’s only talking about the bad ones; not the ones he likes and takes money from, who must be the good lobbyists.
This is vaguely reminiscent of the argument Hillary Clinton made a few months ago when she defended her practice of accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists.
Twice in the debate, Sen. John Edwards challenged his fellow candidates to refuse to accept contributions from federal lobbyists. The second time he brought up this demand, the narrator, Matt Bai, asked Clinton whether she’d continue to take money from lobbyists.
“I will,” she said.
“A lot of those lobbyists whether you like it not, represent real Americans,” she said. “They represent nurses, social workers” — here the audience began to boo — “and yes, they represent corporations and they employ a lot of people.” “I just… I just ask you to look at my record.” Never, she said, in her 35 years of public service, had she bowed to the will of a lobbyist. But she would not change her mind.
The key difference is, McCain’s pitch is a lot less compelling. He told CBS about lobbyists for firemen and senior citizens, but those aren’t the folks running his campaign.
For years, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has railed against lobbyists and the influence of “special interests” in Washington, touting on his campaign Web site his fight against “the ‘revolving door’ by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists for the special interests they have aided.”
But when McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington’s lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JPMorgan and U.S. Airways.
Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O’ Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae.
It’s a shame “60 Minutes” didn’t note these pesky details.