Josh Marshall ponders Senator McCain’s seeming contempt for Senator Obama. Reading Josh’s account spurred my memory of an odd exchange between the two senators a few years back, as told through the Chicago Tribune. The exchange was set off by a very sarcastic and diminishing letter written by Senator McCain to Senator Obama. In summary, McCain was angry at Obama (then a freshman senator) for what he viewed as partisan posturing with regard to ethics reform. For his part, Obama claimed to have no idea what prompted the McCain outburst.
A summary of that dust up can be found here.
According to the article, the following is an excerpt of the letter from McCain to Obama; certainly not a respectful address:
Dear Senator Obama:
I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. . . . Thank you for disabusing me of such notions. . . . I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. . . . I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isn’t always a priority for every one of us. Good luck to you, senator.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senate
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