McCAIN BOYCOTTING CLUB FOR GROWTH HATEFEST IN FLORIDA. CLUB FOR GROWTH CLUBS HIM WITH A VICIOUS WHITE PAPER

I'm no admirer of John McCain but, like I said a couple weeks ago, he was one smart cookie to stay away from the annual conclave of the radical far right fringe of his loony party (CPAC, the home of the Ann Coulter wing of the GOP). While Romney was flip-floppin' hither and thither and picking up Coulter's kiss of death-- right after she kissed the right-wing, gay porn star/male prostitute-- and Giuliani was testing out how many times he could use the word "ronaldreagan" without coming up for air... while sidestepping every issue near and dear to the far right (except power), McCain, by his absence, looked like he might be the only sane one in the disreputable lot.

Now he's decided that he'd be safer on the frontlines in Iraq than at an even further right and more venomous pow-wow of extremists, the Club For Growth. The most fringy of all legal GOP support organs, Club For Growth's annual HateFest starts March 31 in Palm Beach, Florida. McCain wants to be as far from that circus as he can be. Giuliani and Brownback will be featured speakers.

McCain, tryin' to re-capture his dead-and-buried maverick rep, was also m.i.a. at a retreat for members of the neocon Heritage Foundation and a far right summit hosted by the National Review Institute. Club for Growth President Pat Toomey coyly said he took McCain's explanation at "face value," but added that with McCain failing to show at a string of conservative-sponsored events "it starts to look like a pattern emerging."

I'm sure McCain's as pleased as punch with Toomey's snide remark about "face value"-- especially in light of the vicious hit piece the Club For Growth released about him today John McCain's Record on Economic Issues:

Today, the Club for Growth released its presidential white paper on Republican presidential candidate Arizona Senator John McCain. The third in a series of white papers on presidential candidates provides an extensive summary of Senator McCain’s twenty-four-year congressional record.

While Senator McCain’s economic record contains a number of pro-growth positions, such as his support for school choice and free trade, and his steadfast opposition to wasteful government spending, his overall record is tainted by a marked antipathy towards the free market and individual freedom.

This antipathy is evidenced by the Senator’s vocal and class-warfare-laced opposition to the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts; his occasional but eager support for increased government regulation; his support for raising Social Security taxes; and his persistent attacks on political free speech in the form of the McCain-Feingold Act.

“The Bush tax cuts were a driving force behind the economic prosperity of the last couple of years and a cornerstone of a pro-growth philosophy,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Not only did Senator McCain oppose these cuts, he aligned himself with the likes of Ted Kennedy in his rhetorical attacks in 2001 and 2003. Four years later, American taxpayers still have not heard the Senator disavow his misguided statements and votes.”

“There are certainly aspects of McCain’s economic record that are praiseworthy,” Mr. Toomey continued, “but the question facing American taxpayers is whether they can sufficiently trust a McCain administration to produce consistently strong economic policies. Unfortunately, both his rhetoric and record suggest that the answer is no.”

The paper is followed by pages and pages of instances from McCain's record of why the Greed and Selfishness wing of the Republican Party should avoid McCain at all costs.


McCain may have no time for giving speeches at right-wing meet-and-greets like CPAC and the Club For Growth HateFest but he sure made time to go sniffing around for money in the Inland Empire this week. One of the main centers-- by dint of its congressional delegation-- of the Republican Culture of Corruption, the Inland Empire is McCain Country. He spoke Tuesday at the Mission Inn in Riverside at a fundraiser hosted by the Riverside County Lincoln Club. He only managed to take in $50,000 from 80 fatcats.

Using the word "failed" repeatedly, Sen. John McCain admonished his Republican colleagues following a meeting Tuesday to raise funds for his bid to be president.

McCain, R-Ariz., said that Congress-- controlled by the GOP until the last national election-- failed Americans when it comes to reforming spending practices, immigration issues and Indian gaming.

"We Republicans came to power in 1994 to change government, and government changed us... We began to value power over principle," McCain said...

Former Republican leaders have been jailed, McCain pointed out. He cited the travails of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a San Diego Republican, who has been convicted of taking more than $2 million in bribes. That scandal led to an ongoing investigation into a lobbying firm's ties to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands.

"We need to reform," McCain said. "We need to veto spending bills and we need to stop the earmarking and pork-barrel spending, and I am committed to that."

McCain said his party needs to return to govern like the late President Ronald Reagan and act like "careful stewards of American taxpayer dollars."

McCain, who would probably like to slap crooked Inland Empire Republicans like Jerry Lewis, Gary Miller, and Ken Calvert upside the head, said "I hope they've learned the lessons that the American people are sick and tired of this incredible waste of tax dollars... The system corrupted people, and people took advantage of a system that's badly broken," he said, careful not to point a finger of blame at the local congressmen, at least two of whom are under serious federal investigation. The congressmen all boycotted although there was a city councilman, Ed Adkison, and two county supervisors, John Tavaglione and Marion Ashley, who showed up. Needless to say, McCain studiously avoided the question of how Carol Lam's investigation into Rep. Lewis brought on the entire scandal that is rocking the Department of Justice right now.