&quot;Did you oppose that bill at the time, on the grounds that it would lead to such ridiculous arguments? If you had, you would have been the only one.&quot;<p>I was not the only one. [0][1] The AFL-CIO, the NRA, the ACLU, and Americans that care about the First Amendment were just the beginning. Right inside the Senate, current majority leader McConnell was warning the world about exactly what was wrong with the bill. McCain insisted on keeping all the worst and most totalitarian provisions; they were his favorites.<p>&quot;Most First-Amendment nose-thumbers loved that bill. I suspect their hearts were in the right place, just as I suspect McCain&#x27;s was&quot;<p>That&#x27;s the same kind of contempt for patriotic Americans McCain always exhibits. His heart is not in the right place.<p>&quot;The fact that you didn&#x27;t lead off with a reference to the Keating Five&quot;<p>I could have worn my fingers down on that smartphone with the crimes of McCain before I got to his relatively tiny involvement in the Lincoln S&amp;L bit. I think he was on the list mostly because they needed a Republican to round it out.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aclu.org&#x2F;letter&#x2F;letter-senate-opposition-mccain-feingold-bipartisan-campaign-finance-reform-act-2001" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aclu.org&#x2F;letter&#x2F;letter-senate-opposition-mccain-...</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nraila.org&#x2F;articles&#x2F;20010711&#x2F;campaign-finance-reform-silencing-free" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nraila.org&#x2F;articles&#x2F;20010711&#x2F;campaign-finance-re...</a>