A feeble Democratic talking point
Today's headline in the Washington Post was:
McCain Accepts GOP Nomination: 'Change is Coming,' Veteran Senator Says, Emphasizing Commitment to Putting Interests of Country Before Party
Is the reference to McCain as a "veteran Senator" an attempt to suggest that there's a disconnect when a Washington fixture trumpets change? I wouldn't be surprised.
This, in any case, is the Democrats' latest talking point, and one of their most foolish. It's obviously fallacious to claim that because Congress has both loath to enact reform, a given member of Congress is not a reformer. When one considers McCain's record, the claim as applied to him is absurd.
Thus, John Podhoretz suggests the following response to Barack Obama's question of McCain: where have you been for 26 years:
Here’s where I have been. I changed campaign-finance law. I changed telecommunications law. I took on the tobacco companies when other Republicans wouldn’t. I took on the cable companies when they wouldn’t let people choose what channels they might want to watch. I saw a standoff in the Senate on confirming judges and I changed a standoff into a bipartisan agreement. I took on the earmarks and the Bridge to Nowhere and the breaks for oil companies you, Obama, voted for in 2005. And I helped change the war in Iraq from a defeat into what appears to be a victory. Where have you been for 26 years?JOHN adds: There really is no case to be made for the go along/get along careerist, Barack Obama. McCain will win, and it won't be particularly close.
PAUL adds: I hope so. McCain needs to start using John Podhoretz's line, with that kind of specificity, and pounding it home.
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