How many people begged Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., for a piece of the federal pie when he first entered office? How does Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., feel about the leveraging effect of earmarks for lawmakers’ pet projects in spending bills?
The Club For Growth answers those questions and more about Congress’ favorite food, pork, in the conservative group’s first-ever podcast.
Arizona Republican John McCain took a break from his presidential campaign today to talk about lobbying and ethics legislation on the Senate floor. On the same day, his presidential campaign released an advertisement about the topic.
“Only by breaking the iron triangle of big money, special-interest lobbyists and the legislation they buy can sovereignty be restored to the American people, integrity be reclaimed for our political syste and our public institutions [be] reformed to better serve the interests of the United States,” McCain said in the ad. “Our democracy is not for sale.”
The Senate passed the ethics legislation by a vote of 83-14, clearing it to President Bush. But McCain voted against it because it would not require online disclosure of “earmarks” for lawmakers’ pet projects when the earmarks are in the House-Senate conference reports to spending bills.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at BlogTalkRadio, discussing the politics of this week’s Senate debate about the Iraq and the subsequent decision by Democrats to pull the defense authorization bill from the floor:
This was a blatant political move on the part of the Democrats. They’ve lost sight of the fact that presidents don’t lose wars and political lose wars. Nations lose wars.
Mitt Romney has changed his policy stance on abortion over the years, and his past views, captured on video, continue to haunt him now that he is seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
The Caucus said the latest was circulated today by the rival campaign of Arizona Sen. John McCain, and the clip is fairly recent — from 2005. It features Romney, then the governor of Massachusetts, reiterating his commitment to maintaining abortion rights in the state.
UPDATE: The Romney campaign has released another longer version of the video in question to counter what an aide called “the McCain’s campaign’s desperate, distorting attack” on Romney’s record.
Campaign spokesman Kevin Madden also issued this statment:
Governor Romney consistently maintained, in an effort to protect the sanctity of life, that he would fight attempts to weaken the state’s existing abortion laws. Maintaining existing laws in a state like Massachusetts was an important fight in and of itself. It’s very troubling that the McCain campaign would attack the governor’s pro-life stance by trying to alter the context of a statement made at a news conference where he also made a passionate case for his veto of stem cell legislation that showed a level of disregard for the sanctity of human life.
Is Sen. John McCain of Arizona too old to compete for the Republican presidential nomination? Should he commit during the primary to serving only one term and announce his choice for a vice president? The Hotline team ponders those questions and more in this week’s episode.
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