What happened to you, Senator McCain?

I'm baffled. I'm truly baffled. Sen. John McCain of Arizona had, in the past, been the consistent voice of reason and restraint within a party that typically doesn't comprehend either of those concepts. Yet these days, he seems to be doing nothing more than going through the motions, toeing the part line, and supporting policies and practices that are considered indefensible and even criminal by many Americans.

Case in point... Mr. McCain decided to fire off a nastygram to Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois questioning the sincerity of his efforts to push for true reform regarding Congressional ethics when dealing with lobbyists. Mr. McCain stated: "I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics, I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble," ... "I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's efforts to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness." How civil of you, Senator McCain.

Apparently, Sen. McCain's beef is over the fact that while he had suggested putting together a bipartisan task force to TALK about the issue, Sen. Obama actually wanted to DO something about it. You see, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada has put together a bill (S.2180) to address some of the ethics issues and corruption that exists in the current system; and Sen. Obama has decided to support it. So I guess Mr. McCain is either ticked that he didn't come out with something first, or that someone is actually proposing legislation that really addresses the issue.

You see, I've actually read the bill, something I would like to think Sen. McCain has done. Now, I'm no lawyer, but it sure looks to me like this is legislation that actually has some real teeth to it. You want to take a prohibited jaunt to Scotland to play some golf with your lobbyist friends? That'll be $100,000 in fines, please. You want to do it again? How 'bout $300,000. A third trip? Try $500,000. Oh, and by the way, how does 10 years in prison grab you? The bill also has extensive provisions for adding transparency to the system, and making information on lobbyists, their activities, and their relationship with our legislators a matter of public record.

So I ask the question... Is Mr. McCain really just upset about Mr. Obama's "self-interested partisan posturing" and "earlier disingenuousness", or is he simply worried that he might get his hand caught in the cookie jar if this bill becomes the law of the land? Honestly Mr. McCain, if you were so interested in bipartisanship on this issue, you might want to consider actually adding your name to the bill. Or is true reform out of the realm of possibility for members of the republican party?