Le blogo sur la ligne McCain (circa 1999)

McCain a longtemps eu une image de "maverick" (intrépide, casse-cou) parmi les politiques américains. En 2006, c'était déjà bien fini et Stephen Colbert se moquait durement de cette image surfaite lors de son speech mémorable devant Bush et le Washington Press Corps. Je ne soupçonnais pas que quelques années auparavant, il était sur la même ligne que le blogo. C'est ce que rapporte Dana Milbank du Washington Post:

I miss the McCain I sat with on a flight from San Diego to Phoenix back in 1999, when he defended his oft-ridiculed belief that campaign finance was the most important issue in America: because the corrupting influence of money in politics was preventing all other issues -- taxes, abortion, you name it -- from being solved.

"Until I draw my last breath, I will fight for it," he liked to say back then.

A couple of weeks ago, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that gutted the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance legislation, essentially destroying the cause that had been so dear to McCain.

His response: Whatever.

"I don't think there's much that can be done, to tell you the truth," he told CBS's Bob Schieffer. "It is what it is," he added.

"Reform is dead?" Schieffer asked.

"Oh, I think so," McCain answered, at least for now. "The Supreme Court has spoken. I respect their decision."

So much for that bit about "last breath."