The McCain Meltdown

Back in 2000, the conventional wisdom was that John McCain was "THE Man" for 2008. Today he is running a distant 3rd among declared candidates and a disappointing 4th if you include Fred Thompson. Many have speculated that age, immigration and the "Gang of 14" are to blame for his polling and fundraising doldrums. Logical Lady Kimberly Strassel has another thought in today's Wall Street Journal.

"John McCain's campaign fell into disarray this week, kicked off by the news it had raised a scant $24 million so far. Mark these money woes down to any number of problems, but don't entirely discount the McCain-Feingold effect.
Let's stipulate that most of the good senator's troubles stem from high-profile policy disagreements he's had with his own base. He's tweaked noses on global warming and slapped faces on immigration. His admirable decision to stand strong on Iraq has been undermined by his tendency to stand weak on national security issues such as interrogations and enemy combatants. And economic conservatives just don't trust a guy who won't admit that cutting taxes is good.
Yet while each of these issues has undoubtedly taken its financial toll, Mr. McCain has labored under yet one more burden: McCain-Feingold. He was the prime author of that 2002 law, which took direct aim at his own party and its activists, making it harder for them to collect money, register voters and voice opinions about candidates. It left the very people so vital to a campaign in its early stages--those who write checks, knock on doors, turn out for primaries--furious with him. Talks with party officials and activists today suggest that hostility remains, and has played into his money difficulties. "

I have not been shy about the fact that BCRA is the major reason why I will never support Senator McCain in his quest for the White House. My friend Amendment X has made it quite clear which of the Bill of Rights he is most partial to. Mine would have to be Amendment 1! There is a reason that the Founding Fathers put free speech FIRST, because without it all the other Amendments are at risk. John McCain's bill puts free speech under the thumb of a government that is hostile to said speech.

I won't say that this BCRA is the main reason for McCain's fall from grace. I can more certainly claim that his support of the amnesty bill was the final nail in the coffin. Perhaps it should be said that campaign finance reform was the first nail - a nail that can never be undone because of the very limitations that Senator McCain put on his own campaign.