The "maverick's" elitism in action

I've spent the past few days monitoring the "maverick" - after all, the presumptive Republican nominee deserves some equal time in this race - and it's appropriate to conclude this burst of coverage by noting another example of how career Washington politician John McCain says one thing but does another.

Several weeks ago he skewered Barack Obama for uttering a few "elitist" words about small-town voters, but here, courtesy of McCain, we have a vivid case of elitism in action:

Last summer, when his original campaign organization imploded and he was severely strapped for cash, some observers wondered how McCain would keep himself in the race. After all, a candidate can't stump very effectively unless he has the means to travel. Theoretically, however, he did have one ace in the hole: his wealthy wife.

Cindy McCain, chairwoman of one of the nation's largest Anheuser-Busch distribution firms, and daughter of the rich guy who financed McCain's political career in 1980, just happened to own a midsized corporate jet. Flying in that jet would be a very effective way to slash costs and keep hope alive. But McCain last July specifically insisted that he would not tap his wife's assets in order to salvage his candidacy. He publicly stated: "I have never thought about it. I would never do such a thing..."

Well, apparently he was against "such a thing" before he decided he was for it - because he started flying on his wife's jet last August, and kept doing it all winter, well into the new year.

It should be emphasized that flying in a family jet is not illegal. The feds, however, have been trying to level the playing field, to ensure that rich candidates with their own planes don't have an unfair advantage. The feds are (slowly) working up some new rules that would require candidates enjoying such elitist assets to pay more than a token amount for the privilege - by ponying up roughly the same amount of money that it would cost to fly on a chartered corporate jet. But those rules have not been finalized yet, so McCain over a seven-month period reportedly paid a relative pittance for his plane travel.

Result: As a member in long standing of Arizona's economic elite, McCain landed in a comfortable safety net and seriously slashed his overhead costs when he needed to most. A less-endowed candidate with the same campaign financial headaches might have simply pulled the plug on a White House bid.

With the help of some family/corporate welfare (which he originally vowed not to indulge), McCain was able to pull himself up by his bootstraps and weather his political crisis. The rest is history. These days, as the '08 GOP nominee, he's busy telling downscale voters that the key to their future prosperity hinges on making permanent the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

So, for the sake of argument, which is worse: Obama's elitist words, or McCain's elitist actions?

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But the big news is still the Democratic death march, and my Sunday print column deals with that.