Enough with the goddamn earmarks, already! We know you don't like them, and we also know that you don't seem to have any idea what they are or what they are used for. Just get it on the record and move on, senator.
It's the McCain process in microcosm--there's always one transcendent issue that he takes a "principled" stand on because it's a great generational issue, or something. Former entries on the list: campaign finance reform, climate change, immigration, Iraq, and steroids in baseball. Now it's earmarks. He gets in a pique about these things, talks incessantly about how important they are, how important it is that we confront them, etc., and three months later he's on to something new. Now, some of those issues are pretty damn important (namely, Iraq and climate change) and he's right on a few of them. Still, it's easy to forget how annoying McCain can be, which derives largely from the man's colossal sense of self-righteousness and superior morality.
Then again, when you're a Coolidge balanced-budgets conservative deep down in a party that demands huge tax cuts ad infinitum, this is the sort of line that you have to take. I'm sure that the average American taxpayer is really going to appreciate the $300 they'll get back from earmarks, though Israel might not appreciate not getting new fighter planes. But, hey, they're building bridges to nowhere in Alaska! That's the real travesty here. Actually, if he's really, really angry about wasteful spending, McCain ought to endorse Mark Begich and Ethan Berkowitz for, respectively, U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative from Alaska. They're Democrats taking on Ted Stevens and Don Young, two of the most corrupt (and hated) members of congress. Once he does that I'll start to think he's tough on wasteful spending. I'm not holding my breath.
I'm beginning to think that John McCain is either not really that bright or not especially courageous.
