John Nichols on John McCain on Russ Feingold
Posted at 8:42:43 on May 4, 2004
The Capital Times has an editorial out today (read it here) by John Nichols. He writes about talking with John McCain about Russ Feingold back in 2000, along with a few other comments about the election.
Four years ago, when Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain was seeking the Republican nomination for president, he and I spoke a number of times about Russ Feingold. Because the two men had lent their names to the most serious campaign finance reform bill of the era, they were closely associated in the public's mind - so closely, in fact, that McCain used to joke that people thought his last name was "Feingold," just as Feingold joked that people thought his first name was McCain...
...So, one day, I decided to put McCain to the test. We were at the State Capitol in Concord, N.H. McCain was flying high - he was just about to polish off George W. Bush in the state's first-in-the-nation primary - and some reporters had started asking him about potential running mates for vice president. Jokingly, I suggested that if he picked Feingold they could take advantage of the prominence they had earned during the campaign finance reform fight and run as "McCain-Feingold."
McCain laughed off that suggestion. But, he added, he would consider Feingold for a Cabinet position. Which one? "Maybe attorney general," he said, noting Feingold's knowledge of the Constitution, his passionate commitment to defending civil liberties and his background as a lawyer and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Apart from the delicious notion that, had McCain won, Feingold - rather than John Ashcroft - might be serving as the country's top law enforcement officer, the exchange reflected the depth of McCain's regard for Feingold, and the respect that many thinking Republicans have for the maverick senator from Wisconsin.
- Trae
[ Delete | Edit ]
|
Previous Post | Next Post
Back to Northwestern Wisconsin for Feingold Home - Reelect Russ Feingold
|
|
|
|
