John McCain’s taking a swim in the Pool of Irrational Behavior with this letter to Barack Obama. I love this bit:

I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isn’t always a priority for every one of us.

If I didn’t know better I’d swear he was talking about McCain-Feingold. At least I blinked and missed him on “24″ last night.

Jim: Oh, I think we’re on the verge of one of our rare disagreements. Let me start it by saying “Hip Hip Hooray” for John McCain.

I’m going to say the unspeakable - Barack Obama has the largest hype-to-results ratio disparity in the U.S. Senate. He was handed his Senate seat when his likely opponent had his messy divorce papers released to the Chicago papers; his replacement opponent, Alan Keyes, spent the race boasting that Jesus would endorse him and calling the Vice President’s daughter a “selfish hedonist.”

Obama gave a humdinger of a convention speech in 2004, but his signature accomplishment of that year was to win a Senate seat in a deep blue state, and for that Newsweek put him on the cover and declared he was “uniquely qualified to nudge the country toward the color purple.” Since his election, Obama has been a fairly standard Democratic senator, voting the party line, and turning in fine performances on “Meet the Press.” He’s not the Second Coming. He’s Harold Ford 2.0.

This is the first genuinely risky political fight John McCain has gotten into in ages. He may find his longtime ally, the media, turning on him (or more likely, ignoring this letter) for attacking a Democratic Rising Star. Bravo, I say. When Obama behaves like just another politician, he deserves to be called on it. Criticism from almost any other Republican would be ignored. It will be fascinating to see the reaction to McCain’s scathing rebuke.

Cam: You don’t really disagree with me. You just want to be a maverick.

I’ve got no quarrel with your views on Obama. In fact, I agree 100% with them. But when McCain does something that doesn’t immediately appear to benefit McCain, you’ve got to ask what the angle is. Is McCain trying to appeal to conservatives again (it happens every now and then). Is he trying to bully other Democrats into supporting his “lobbyist reform” by publicly shaming Obama? Is he drunk on power and the blood of Arizona virgins?

Sure, it’s neat that a Republican senator gave a little smack down to Obama, but the fact that it was John McCain makes me a little suspicious. And I stand by my thinking that McCain’s self-righteous statement about senators not acting in the public’s best interest is gag-worthy, considering the implications BCRA has had on political speech in this country.

Jim: I’m no fan of BCRA — although I think the ban on soft money was not merely good politics for the GOP, it was the right thing to do. Unlimited contributions for “party-building activities” had become a ludicrous loophole that permitted anybody to dump as much money as they liked into campaigns, with only the usual quarterly filing disclosure requirements. I’d prefer more disclosure and transparency.

Having said that, the Democrats have enjoying posing as the party of “campaign finance reform” for years, and McCain’s letter is the second time their intention to look good rather than think through the consequences has bitten them in the ass. The first was when they banned soft money, even though they were much more dependent on it. (This helped bring about the rise of MoveOn.org, Americans Coming Together, and the other way-left, angry grassroots groups. Another development that is politically advantageous for the GOP.)

Now one of the party’s shining stars has wavered on whether it’s better to take legislative action now, or have the issue to run on in the 2006 elections. And for not taking a principled stand, McCain has ripped him.

Sometimes you have to stop worrying about McCain’s secret motives, and just enjoy him taking a previously-untouchable Democrat to the woodshed.

“For defeating the political powerhouse that is Alan Keyes and keeping a Senate seat in a deep blue state in Democratic hands, we at Newsweek declare Barack Obama our Man of the Year!”

“Divorcing me will destroy your Senate campaign. Resistance is futile.”