Much was made, with good cause, of John McCain’s repudiation of the Swiftboat hacks’ twisted attacks on John Kerry’s military heroism. McCain has been going above and beyond to help Bush on the campaign trail lately, but even he couldn’t stand by and allow such a slanderous attack to go by uncorrected, even if that meant sticking up for Bush’s Dem rival.
Yesterday’s move prompted many to wonder if the McCain-Bush rift was being re-opened after a year or so of relative peace. It’d be understandable, given the circumstances — the people who are orchestrating the disgusting attacks on Kerry are the exact same people who smeared McCain (with Bush’s tacit support) in the 2000 campaign.
But if you’re looking for evidence of a strain in the McCain-Bush relationship, you’ll need to look past the Swiftboat nonsense and consider yet another area of McCain frustration with the White House — over the oft-ignored Boeing corruption scandal.
The Air Force negotiated a contract to lease refueling aircraft from Boeing Co. that could cost hundreds of millions to several billions of dollars more than it should, and followed a procurement strategy that demonstrated poor stewardship of Defense Department funds, according to a long-awaited report by the department’s inspector general.
The $23.5 billion program — the costliest lease in U.S. history — is currently suspended, pending a series of Defense Department reviews and the outcome of a criminal investigation in Virginia into potential wrongdoing. But the report, which was presented yesterday to members of the U.S. Senate, indicates the deal is unlikely to proceed on anything like the original contract terms.
It states that senior Air Force officials failed to comply with military contracting laws, wrongly exempted Boeing from disclosing vital price information, accepted insufficient or inaccurate Boeing data during its negotiations, and wrongly waived any right to audit the program once it gets started.
The whole thing smells really bad. Worse, Bush, who has enjoyed generous campaign contributions from Boeing, is directly involved. According to a senior administration official and internal Boeing communications unearthed in a congressional investigation, Bush “personally” asked White House aides to work out the lucrative deal.
In June, Donald Rumsfeld announced that he doesn’t feel like answering any questions about this mess. McCain was livid.
McCain said Rumsfeld’s response would “eviscerate the responsibility of Congress to provide oversight in such matters.”
“There is not one single element in that letter which is acceptable to me,” he said.
Now, after two months of continued stonewalling, the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire reported today that McCain’s patience is near its limit.
McCain suspected White House withheld information from Senate probe of failed Air Force effort to lease 100 Boeing jetliners. He mulls subpoenas, still blocks nominees for top Pentagon jobs.
If McCain starts subpoenaing administration officials in a corruption probe, do you think it might put a crimp in the Bush-McCain campaign appearances? Just a thought.