Holier Than Thou

The New York Times reports today that celebrated campaign finance reformer U.S. Senator John McCain apparently has no trouble asking well-healed donors for contributions in excess of $50,000 for his Reform Institute -- helping him to amass more than $1.3 million for the group last year.

Senator McCain “defended the large donations as a necessary part of advocacy work, and drew a distinction between the progressive agenda of the Reform Institute and political efforts to which campaign finance laws apply. 'The institute is different, he said, 'because it is nonpartisan and issue-oriented.'”

Oh…. “Issue oriented” work..... That explains it.

But wasn’t it Senator McCain who complained that by “[h]iding behind the guise of 'issue advocacy' ... nameless benefactors with thick bankrolls can donate unlimited sums ... beyond the reach of the campaign-reporting laws designed to curb such abuses”?