Abuse of Power

The story about McCain and the lobbyist is, so far, not quite dying down. It should not. The part about sex should, but not the part about the influence of lobbying. There is one fact that stands out in this story. It appears to be a fact, since it has been confirmed by several sources and admitted by McCain himself.

John McCain wrote three letters to the FCC on behalf of the clients of this lobbyist, clients who were also contributing cash to him. One of those letters even contained a threat to "restructure" the agency.

He did this many years after barely escaping with his political career from the "Keating Five" scandal, a scandal which involved politicians contacting a federal regulating agency on behalf of a person who was making cash contributions to those politicians.

If nothing else, McCain should be disqualified from serving as president because he is simply too stupid to learn from his mistakes.

But he does not admit to having made a mistake. He regards these more recent contacts merely as normal "Beltway Business." He insists that he has done nothing wrong, and that he was merely doing a favor for a friend. Even without the exchange of cash, such contact "on behalf of a friend" by a politician is grossly improper at best.

Without the exchange of cash it appears that he simply enjoys throwing his weight around. He has power and enjoys letting people know it and making them dance to his tune. Add the element of the exchange of cash, the campaign contributions, and it appears that he is doing favors for money; otherwise known as taking bribes.

So the best that can be said of McCain is that he abuses power.