McCain wants Obama to adopt a lobbyist-free campaign policy like his.
Question: What was the impetus for the new lobbying policy?
McCain: “We have enacted the most comprehensive and most transparent policy concerning lobbyist activities and I challenge Senator Obama to adopt a similar policy.”
Question: Is this an inside-the-beltway issue? Do the American people care?
McCain: “It’s not so much that as we wanted to make sure there was an effective and comprehensive and transparent policy towards lobbyist, the most comprehensive and transparent of any presidential campaign in history, and I challenge Senator Obama to adopt the same policy.”
Question: Why did this policy take so long and are you confident we will see no more departures from your campaign?
McCain: “We have enacted the most comprehensive and transparent policy of any presidential campaign in history and I challenge Senator Obama to adopt the same policy.”
All told, by the end of the media availability McCain had described his new lobbyist policy as “comprehensive” seven times, “transparent” five times and challenged Obama to adopt his policy three times.
Now that’s staying on message. Charlie Black thinks the whole issue is bullcrap.
Asked today if the American public cares about the issue, campaign senior adviser Charlie Black responded, “hell no.”
“I mean this is complete inside the beltway nonsense. But mccain blvs there should be a standard because of his efforts at reform and he laid down a standard and everyone is in compliance,” Black said aboard McCain’s campaign plane Monday. “(The media) are carrying this to absurdity. I mean it’s the same principe the (Campaign Manager) Rick Davis quit lobbying five years ago. It’s like saying Tim Russert is disqualified from running “Meet the Press” because he was once a Democratic political operative. Or George Stephanopoulos. I think you can change professions and unless you did something unethical or criminal, your past profession should not be injected into a candidate’s campaign. That’s absurd, absurd.”
…
“Let’s see when you guys go digging into Obama’s lobbyists in his campaign,” Black said. “He doesn’t have a standard or his is certainly not as strong as McCain’s. He’s got lobbyists hanging around all over the place. I know who some of them are. Surely you guys can find ‘em.”
The misspellings belong to Fox News, not me. I gotta agree with Charlie here, the whole lobbyist thing is a beltway issue at best. It’s certainly not anything that’s going to keep Americans up at night.
