"Clean Sports Act?"
This may be yet another of those cases where I'm forced to concede that my brethren on the right were way ahead of me. I'm talking about Arizona Senator John McCain.
Look, I've forgiven the guy a lot, okay? I've apologized for him and defended him even when I felt like the last white guy at the Alamo. I sent his campaign money when I worked for a tobacco company, for God's sake.
And no, this is probably not his most egregious sin, but it may well be the straw that breaks this Camel's back. I guess we should've seen this one coming, but Senator McCain is now offering the Clean Sport Act for consideration. No, I'm not kidding. Yes, I wish I were.
Now I have to ask something. Is there anything left of limited-government conservatism? Anything at all? Is the Republican Party even going through the motions anymore, or have they abandoned the pretense altogether?
Granted, they've always had lapses, but conservatives of old had at least tried to keep in mind that all government power stems from coercion and is funded by the confiscation of wealth. Now there are times when this is justified -- protecting us from murderous terrorists or preventing the least fortunate among us from falling through the cracks -- but major league baseball? The NBA? Is this really what Jefferson had in mind for the federal government?
Despite this lunacy, I'm not completely anathematizing McCain. I still have enormous respect for the man, and God knows this kind of inanity is by no means confined to his office. Still, I've reached the point were I can no longer consider him my preferred presidential candidate.
Rudy in 2008, I guess.