The Company He Keeps, Part 2

by Steve Soto

No one should be surprised that John McCain now has no problem with granting the telecoms retroactive immunity for their illegal collection of Americans' private information. Just last fall, he at least demonstrated some concern over the illegality. But that was before he surrounded himself with telecom lobbyists on his campaign team.

And as a follow-up, the NYT finally gets around to the story about the federal inquiry into UBS, and mentions that Phil Gramm was instrumental in helping wealthy Americans evade the IRS and federal taxes through UBS's offshore scams. But to maintain their cocktail weenie and BBQ privileges at McCain's ranch, the NYT never mentions in this story that Gramm is McCain's chief economics advisor.