McCain To Fire Entire Staff

If he's really going to look into the backgrounds of everyone working for him and fire those who have, er, unsavory lobbying associations, the whole staff has got to go.

One of the questions asks: "Have you ever been a registered lobbyist at either the Federal or State level?" Another asks: "Have you ever been a registered foreign agent? A third asks staff members to list all of their previous lobbying or foreign government clients.

All staff members are required to submit the form to McCain's campaign counsel, Trevor Potter and his staff, for their review.

Employees who lie about their affiliations will be fired. The new conflicts policy prohibits campaign staffers from being "registered lobbyist or foreign agent, or receive compensation for any such activity."

I mean, if this were legitimate, Charlie Black would have to go. I doubt he will. His campaign manager Rick Davis would have to go. That's not going to happen. What's more likely is that a few functionaries, like this guy whose lobbying firm worked for Qatar and Serbia, will be let go, and McCain will go back and boast to the media about how he upholds the strictest ethical standards (even though Obama had these rules in place from Day One), and nobody will bother to bring up the lobbyists still inside the campaign, or that these fired ones were involved with him in the first place.

All McCain has is that independent perception. Once, not if but once, that goes away, he'll be left with nothing. His trying to pre-empt it now means he knows it's a big problem.

...also, the stories that keep coming out detailing the favors he did for wealthy contributors can't be helping, either.

Sen. John McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show.

McCain, who has made fighting special-interest projects a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, inserted $14.3 million in a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base in a provision sought by SunCor Development, the largest of about 50 landowners near the base. SunCor representatives, upset with a state law that restricted development around Luke, met with McCain's staff to lobby for funding, according to John Ogden, SunCor's president at the time.

The maverick thing is a double-edged sword, because if you envision yourself above politics, yet are the same old politician, these stories are more damaging.

UPDATE: Doesn't this also mean that McCain will have to fire his wife for making all those investments in the Sudanese government?