Though a decorated Vietnam veteran, John McCain once chose to wear his joint McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform as his badge of honor, possibly as much as John Kerry brandished his Bronze Star during the 2004 campaign.

It could now seem like a poor decision to make campaign and governmental ethics such a prominent position after The New York Times recently ran a widely discussed article that raised issues of questionable lobbyist and fundraising tactics last week.

But even before the Times ran ...