The Occasional Observer

I think John Avlon is on to something with his article, "McCain should run against Stevens." Running against Stevens and co-opting the Dems "culture of corruption" meme, but tying it to Dems as well, particularly Obama and the Dem Congressional Leadership which may be vulnerable to the charge.

Senator Ted Stevens' seven-count indictment looks like it couldn't have come at a worse time for the Republican Party, which is already in mid-soul search.

But in every crisis there is opportunity - and for John McCain this latest congressional Republican scandal offers an opportunity to revive his reputation as an independent reformer. It has the added advantage of being brand consistent.

John McCain has been a constant critic of the unprecedented levels of pork barrel spending that took hold of the Republican Congress during the Bush Administration. And there is no better symbol of that excess then Senator Ted Stevens' infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," the $398 million dollar boondoggle to an island in Alaska where less than 10,000 people lived.

...It's hard for some professional Republican partisans to understand, but John McCain is competitive in this election because of his independence, not in spite of it.

One of the best ways to create daylight between himself and the Bush administration would be to revive his profile as a fearless reformer with a forceful new condemnation of the culture of corruption in Washington. He should hold out the examples Ted Stevens, Monica Goodling, Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff as counter examples of the direction in which he wants to lead his party and his nation. He can harness the anger toward Bush-era Republican excesses while pointing the way to a new McCain brand of the Republican Party.