Arrogance Defined by McCain

The Washington Examiner has no love for Sen. John McCain, as evidenced by their editorial today:

James Madison, the prime mover behind the U.S. Constitution, and his colleagues among the Founders rightly feared arrogant men like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., so they limited the central government to a few, well-defined powers. As further protection, Madison and the first Congress approved the First Amendment to the Constitution to protect forever the right of every American to freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition.

Why do we think of the Arizona senator when arrogance is mentioned? Dictionary.com defines arrogance as “overbearing pride evidenced by a superior attitude toward inferiors.” McCain incited a blogstorm Friday with this comment, which epitomizes political arrogance:

“I know that money corrupts … I would rather have a clean government than one where, quote, First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.”

An especially virulent arrogance lurks within the person who proclaims his or her particular understanding of something so imprecise as “clean government” to be preferable to the five core freedoms without which liberty and democracy are lost. McCain will protest this reading of his statement, but the First Amendment is too precious to keep giving him a pass on this issue, as too many in the media have done for too long.

I posted a piece on McCain's remarks the other day. What's really sad is that he's still considered the frontrunner for 2008 by those clearly don't understand the Republican primary base. Conservatives will not support McCain, and it's unlikely that he can win the nomination without them.

Read the rest of the Examiner piece here.