John McCain, Friend of Monopolies

clipped from www.mcclatchydc.com John McCain broadcasts his affection for Theodore Roosevelt, but his opposition to regulating the local telephone industry suggests that he may not share the former president's passion for busting huge corporate trusts. Unlike Roosevelt, who railed against "malefactors of great wealth," McCain's positions frequently have echoed those of the giant regional Bell phone companies, now consolidated as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest, the big survivors of the telecommunications wars of the last quarter-century. McCain's opposition to the 1996 Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act, intended to spur competition by pressuring the Bells to lease their lines and switches to competitors cheaply, offers a window into how he might view regulation of other markets as president.

I think there are two reasons McCain invokes Teddy Roosevelt. 1. Roosevelt wasn't a Republican in the modern sense, but a Republican in the original sense -- i.e., a progressive. McCain hopes to signal some that his "maverick" label actually means something.

2. Teddy Roosevelt is the one face on Mt. Rushmore that Americans know the least about.

In the end, I'd say it's more 2 than 1.