Sen. John McCain reveals his true feelings about campaign finance -- much to Mitt Romney's dismay. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was supposed to be doing a conference call with reporters on behalf of Mitt Romney, who he has endorsed for president. But instead of criticizing Romney’s rival Newt Gingrich on earmarks, John McCain, often known as the Maverick, took a different route.
When a reporter asked McCain about the “negative tone” of the Republican primary, McCain started railing on campaign finance:
“I dislike it, and the fact is that we all decry negative ads and negative tones but it does move voters and as long as it moves voters it’s going to happen,” McCain said.
“As you know, I think the outside super PACs and others is so disgraceful that I’m ashamed of the United States Supreme Court in their decision on United,” McCain said, referring to the 2010 Citizens United decision that allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money in political elections…
McCain went further.
“I predict to you there will be a major scandal associated with the Supreme Court decision on Citizens versus United. There is too much money washing around,” he said.
Romney, of course, has benefited greatly from the help of his super PAC, and is in favor of not having limits on campaign fundraising and spending. McCain didn’t seem to know that part of the script, and, while he did criticize Gingrich, he inadvertently touched on campaign finance strategies Romney is using:
“I note with some interest that a casino owner has given $5 million and his wife has now given $5 million, so you have one family throwing in $10 million into a primary race. I don’t think that’s what our Founding Fathers had in mind,” McCain said.
And with that, Romney communications director Gail Gitcho promptly ended the call.
“Senator McCain, thank you very much for taking the time today,” she said. “I appreciate your comments and we’ll talk to everybody tomorrow.”
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