McCain's poverty tour filled with contradictions

Matt Stearns
McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: April 26, 2008

GEE'S BEND, Ala. — For John McCain, it was either the perfect political photo op that reflected an image he's worked years to polish or a moment of striking, and potentially damaging, political dissonance.

It was a breezy, sunny day this week in lush southwest Alabama. McCain was surrounded by friendly African-American ladies serenading him with spirituals as they rode a ferry across the muddy Alabama River.

McCain, sporting his Navy cap and sunglasses, even scampered to the bridge to take a turn at the wheel, news cameras clicking away to record his moment as helmsman.

Perfect image — the maverick Republican wooing a voter group that few in his party bother to court.

Except that McCain, the longtime scourge of congressional "earmark" spending who's promised to veto every bill with earmarks if he's elected president, was aboard a ferry that's financed by a $2 million earmark in a 2005 spending bill.

McCain said there was no inconsistency because the ferry, which connects a tiny, isolated hamlet to a larger town, was a worthy project.

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