Insane McCain Digging Deeper

Let’s begin with a wide angle lens and zoom in.

Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi was indicted Friday in Arizona on 35 counts of extortion, conspiracy, money laundering and related charges.

The indictment says the congressman conspired with one former business partner in an alleged land-swap scheme and with another to commit insurance fraud.

  NPR

One:

Renzi (R-AZ) is one of two dozen co-chairs of John McCain's campaign in Arizona. When reporters asked him today what he thought about Renzi's indictment, he seems to have gotten a little tongue-tied.

"I'm sorry. I feel for the family; as you know, he has 12 children," McCain told reporters on the presidential campaign trail. "But I don't know enough of the details to make a judgment. These kinds of things are always very unfortunate. ... I rely on our Department of Justice and system of justice to make the right outcome."

  TPM Muckraker

Two:

One day after The New York Times published an article raising ethical questions about Sen. John McCain's dealings with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, the Arizona senator pushed back today at a press conference in Cleveland, telling reporters, "Vicki Iseman did not force me into any positions."

Calling suggestions that Ms. Iseman could make him assume a different position "ridiculous," Sen. McCain said, "At my age, I'm not about to try out new positions that I'm uncomfortable with."

  Yahoo

And yes, this is a story involving allegations of a romantic liaison, so their choice of words is not only humorous, but exquisitely apt. [Update: I missed this one. Thanks to W3IAI for catching me lazy. Please see comments.]

Three:

[John] McCain has accused [Barack] Obama of rolling back on a pledge to limit himself to $85 million in public money for the general election if he is the Democratic nominee. Obama, who has raised over $140 million so far, has refused to recommit to the pledge, which he made in February 2007.

  Reuters

McCain opted in to the public finance system for the primaries last year. It meant that his struggling campaign would get $5.8 million in public matching funds in March. Now that he's effectively the Republican nominee, he wants out, because the system entails a spending limit of $54 million through the end of August. He's almost spent that much already, according to the Post.

So the McCain campaign sent the Federal Election Commission a letter (pdf) earlier this month saying that he was opting out. But there's a problem. And FEC Chairman David Mason, a Republican, made it plain in his letter (pdf) yesterday: McCain can't tell the FEC that he's out of the system. He can only ask.

[...]

It is a serious issue. As the Post reports, "Knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison."

[...]

But McCain has refused to support efforts to fix the system, so in a way, he has himself to blame for the fact that the system is so unworkable that he's possibly bent the rules to get out of it.

  TPM Muckraker

It’s a bit up in the air at the moment because there aren’t enough commissioners to hand down a verdict. The Senate is arguing over four nominees. I suppose we might be looking forward to some time-finagling on this issue while everybody jockeys for position.

McCain, the author of a prominent law that limits money in politics, asked the FEC for public money last year at a time when his campaign was in deep trouble.

[...]

McCain opted out of the system earlier this month because he has nearly reached the FEC's $54 million spending cap for the primary season and expects to raise more money.

[...]

McCain -- the likely Republican nominee in November's presidential election -- was told by the Federal Election Commission on Thursday that he might be required to use public funding and so abide by its accompanying spending limits until September when he formally would be anointed the Republican Party candidate.

[...]

[At] a campaign stop in Indiana, McCain replied with a dismissive "no" when asked if he was concerned by the FEC's letter.

"It's not a decision. It's an opinion, according to our people," he said.

  Reuters

He obviously has people a lot like the current administration’s people.

And he’s not so willing to rely on the FEC for the “right outcome” as he is on the Justice Department in the Renzi case.

You know, I’m just not entirely convinced that Insane will in fact be the GOP nominee.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.