Links and Minifeatures 2008 03 14

USA Today has the right point of view on the Air Force Tanker Deal. Boeing had the deal locked up - until Senator McCain blew the whistle on illegal payments they made to get it.

The contract was then re-bid, and a consortium that included Airbus and Northrop won the contract, fair and square under heavy scrutiny. The deal and jobs that would have gone to Washington and Kansas instead went to Alabama and Florida - as the plane is still being built in the US. In fact, about as much of the aircraft will be US made as would have been the case had Boeing gotten the contract.

Senator McCain deserves praise, not just for blowing the whistle, but for being willing to stand up to the smears of opposition party lawmakers in Washington as well as corporate dissemblers who know darned well that their company would have gotten a very sympathetic contract had they not paid kickbacks. Indeed, Boeing was very lucky it wasn't barred from the process of the re-bid of the contract entirely.

Let's see. Company pays illegal kickbacks and bundles campaign contributions in way to get around law, and is awarded huge Air Force dollar contract for billion dollar planes. Whistle blown, at considerable political risk, by John McCain. Contract re-bid under intense scrutiny. How is this not a good thing for citizens of this country? Do we want to encourage corruption in our government contracting system? Has some sort of "spoils system" for government contracting become the main point of the system?

Personally, I think blowing the whistle, as John McCain did, is precisely what we should be able to expect from our public servants, and the Washington state politicians who are decrying what he did are covering themselves in even more shame. I think the fact that Senator McCain was willing to do what is best for the country, while so many other politicians were not, is a major point in his favor in the current presidential campaign - especially against two of the senate's biggest porkmeisters.

Don Surber has some very cogent questions that need to be asked at the next debate.

Obama's choosing his position based upon politics of the moment

neo-neocon contrasts with John McCain

Reading this over as I get ready to publish, I wasn't intending to make this a "support John McCain issue" of L&M. Nonetheless, all three prior items that caught my interest have something indicating one or more reasons to do that. I'm going to let it stand. What's more important than making a sane rational decision about who's going to have the most important and influential job in the country (if not the world) for the next four years?

Given the candidates on the table, I'd support John McCain if the parties of the candidates were switched.

I'd support John McCain if the sexes of the candidates were reversed.

I'd support John McCain if the races of the candidates were switched.

It's not just about character. It's about leadership ability. It's about voting record. It's about deeds. It's about where I think the country should go - where I think the country needs to go. I have my quarrels with John McCain's version - but they're a lot smaller and more subject to accommodation than the differences I have with the alternatives.

Finally, sometimes events can force a President to act now. I believe John McCain has the ability to act for the good of the country, without first convening focus groups on the political consequences to him and best possible spin to put on it. I do not believe that about either of the alternatives.

I believe John McCain has demonstrated himself more capable of owning a mistake than either of the alternatives ever will. McCain-Feingold notwithstanding. For instance, Keating Five is a dead issue precisely because he owned up.

Things happen in the four years the next president will be in office. Unforseeable things. I believe Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton capable of the sort of leadership that takes the country where it wants to go anyway. I believe John McCain capable of the sort of leadership that takes us somewhere we don't want to go, but can be persuaded.

I'd rather have a lot of people for our next president. But they're not running for the job, or they're not running any longer. The three choices we have at this point in time are John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Of those, there is precisely zero doubt in my mind at this point that John McCain is the best choice. Yes, it might be possible for events to move me off my support of McCain before November. But I don't think it's very likely.

Readers and Commenters are welcome to disagree (so long as kept within standing comments policy).