David Brooks on John McCain's Lobbying Reform Record

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February 24, 2008 -- David Brooks: "John McCain has a record for 23 years. Every year he goes to the floor of the Senate and makes fun of the earmarks that lobbyists have produced and his colleagues take a little piece of skin out of his back for ridiculing them. He tackled Jack Abramoff even though it made the Republican Party very uncomfortable. He tackled Boeing. "

Excerpts: David Brooks On "Meet The Press"

Brooks: "Obama has a fine record on ethics. But John McCain has a record for 23 years. Every year he goes to the floor of the Senate and makes fun of the earmarks that lobbyists have produced and his colleagues take a little piece of skin out of his back for ridiculing them. He tackled Jack Abramoff even though it made the Republican Party very uncomfortable. He tackled Boeing. He was chairman of the Commerce Committee. Suppose he did write these letters for Paxson, which he may have, I don't understand the case. The Commerce Committee is one of the most lobbied committees on Capitol Hill."

Brooks: "I would hate to think that Obama is going to cherry-pick a few things and not look at the whole record. It seems to me McCain has a pretty good case on this issue as someone who has been pretty tough on lobbyists over the course of his career."

Source: John McCain 2008