What's With This Guy?

There is more than one Establishment in Washington, D.C. There is, first and foremost in terms of cash flow, the "K" Street corridor that connects big business lobbyists, publicists, and lawyers to the Powers, the politicians, uber-bureaucrats, and Wise Men. And there's a Virtue establishment, good government watchdogs, environmental activists, civil rights lawyers, and the like. And then there are people like me - the Media.

To all these establishments, John McCain is something of a political cross-dresser who's hard to figure and pin down. There's no question that he is a pro-business Republican. And there's no question that he is a zealot for campaign finance reform.

So "K" Street doesn't trust him as one of them because of his reformer streak. The Virtuecrats are similarly suspicious. A top telecommunications lobbyist captured the McCain muddle: "He's anti-regulation, he's anti-government, but he's pro-consumer and that's a funny mix."

As for the Media, well, they're smitten right now. They think he's just dreamy.

But just like the to other Establishments, to the Media a pro-business, anti-money-in-politics Republican is a rarity. And it's a rarity never before seen in viable candidate in a modern presidential election.

At this early juncture, it appears that the voters don't share this "neither fish nor fowl" problem concerning the Senate Commerce Committee chairman. All the different cross-sections of New Hampshire Republicans and independents liked him. Nearly 80 percent of the voters there thought campaign finance reform would improve government.

So it's not surprising that many are having a hard time thinking clearly about the charge now being lobbed at McCain by happy warrior George W. Bush - that McCain is a big hypocrite. He preaches reform and takes contributions from business interests for his campaign just like everyone else. And he does favors for businesses that give him money, just like everyone else.

For Bush it's a simple logic. John McCain says campaign contributions from special interests are a bad thing. McCain accepts campaign contributions from special interests. Ergo, he's a hypocrite.

McCain's response to the hypocrisy charge was that Bush was showing "a little sign of desperation." That, too, may be true. But it's not a substantive response.

His response to charges that he has done favors for companies is that he sure has, but not because of their donations. And, he added, this just shows how rotten the system is because it puts most every constituent service or position on a complex business issue under an ethical cloud. The record shows that McCain has gone to bat for companies that gave him money and companies that didn't give him money. Again, it's a muddle.

Candidate McCain faced a vexing choice. He could renounce donations from "special interests" (supply your own definition here) and thus renounce running a viable, adequately funded national campaign. Or he ould take the money and take the heat. Once he decided to run, that decision was a no-brainer in every practical sense.

Whatever the Washington Establishments make of the McCain muddle, their early indications that primary voters are giving him the benefit of the doubt.

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