A day after Sen. Ted Stevens's indictment on federal corruption charges, presumptive Republican presidential nomniee John McCain made the following statement about embattled Alaska senator:
Like every American, Sen. Stevens is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Sen McCain and Sen. Stevens have clashed famously over the appropriations process that Sen. McCain veiws as broken and subject to the type of corruption that has caused voters to lose faith with Washington, and as Sen. McCain mentions on the campaign trail nearly daily, has resulted in former members of Congress residing in prison. Sen. McCain has fought loudly, and often alone, against corruption and wasteful spending. This is a sad reminder that the next president will have his work cut out for him in rebuilding public trust by ending once and for all pork-barrel spending, and by reforming the federal government top to bottom.
I was thinking McCain's team could think of a more clever response to the Stevens indictment.
Like most other events, they've wasted whatever opportunity they had (after all, it's no surprise that Stevens is indicted).
He 'supports' Stevens (at least enough to calm conservatives):
'Stevens is entitled to the presumption of innocence.'
He separates himself from Stevens (while getting as much coverage as possible):
'Sen McCain and Sen. Stevens have clashed famously over the ... type of corruption that has caused voters to lose faith with Washington,'
And he (McCain) gets a plug in for one of his unhelpful ideas:
' ... the next president will ... end once and for all pork-barrel spending'
McCain's a poor candidate, with his recent ads he's only making himself less acceptable to many Americans and Senators (even if he wins he'll be an old lame duck from Day 1).
Posted by: Ivanv | July 31, 2008 at 04:15 PM