One of the odd things about John McCain’s campaign is that it’s extremely difficult to say based on his campaign pledges what would actually happen if he became president. One good example concerns the question of his pledge to veto any appropriation bill that features earmarks. Well, all the appropriations bills feature earmarks. And even Republican members of congress say they have no intention of giving up on earmarking. So bills get passed and then he vetoes them all . . . then what?
If both sides stick to their guns you could have, in principle, a government shutdown. Which would seem like a very strange thing to happen over an extremely small amount of money and an issue where it’s genuinely hard to see what the question of principle is. But it could happen. Or congress could back down. Or, most likely I guess, McCain could back down. But it’s really a very open question. I don’t think there’s any precedent for a president choosing to start his term in office with an apocalyptic battle with both parties in congress over a basically trivial issue. But, I dunno, it’d be pretty mavericky.
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