Saddleback Bloopers

McCain sent back an angry, blistering response, accusing Obama of insincerity and "self-interested partisan posturing":

McCain (letter to Obama) Feb. 6, 2006: I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. ... I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won't make the same mistake again.

Two days later, the two men publicly made up at a hearing on lobbying and ethics reform held by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Obama said he was "pleased to be sharing this panel with my pen pal, John McCain." McCain said, "Sen. Obama and I are moving on" and "I value his input." However, two years later, the Washington Postsaid of their failed collaboration: "It was the first, and only, time the two ever tried extensively working together."

It's true that both Obama and McCain wanted tougher ethics legislation than either the Democratic or Republican leadership at first was willing to support. The Senate passed an ethics bill March 29, 2006, with strong bipartisan support – the vote was 90 to 8 – but both Obama and McCain were among those voting against the measure on grounds that it did not go far enough. That bill failed to become law, but in 2007 (after Democrats took control) the Senate passed a version Obama and McCain both supported. That vote was 98 to 2.

"No Input from the Republicans"
But in the end, the two found themselves again on opposite sides on the ethics law. When a House-passed version came back to the Senate, McCain voted against it and Obama voted for it. That version passed 83 to 14 and became law. McCain complained that the House had stripped out any "meaningful" reforms of earmarks, through which individual House and Senate members insert funds for pet projects into appropriations bills. He also complained that the bill had been written by Democrats who held majorities in both the House and Senate, with "no input" from Republicans.

McCain, Aug. 2, 2007: Under this majority-written bill, with no input from the Republicans, this bill will, unless you hold one of the top positions, you will now wield even more power, even more power with your pork-barrel pen. ... [T]he bill before us fixes only part of the problem and does not go to the heart of the problem. The heart of the problem that has bred the corruption is the earmark process.

Against Party Loyalty?
Worth noting, also, is that Obama gave his supposed collaboration with McCain as an example of how he had worked "against party loyalty ... for the good of America," in the words used by Warren in his question. In fact, the measure that became law was sponsored by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and a bipartisan list of 16 others. Only Republicans voted against it in the end. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the bill helped fulfill an election pledge by Democrats to "drain the swamp" of corruption, and the Los Angeles Times reported that "Democrats cheered the bill as a major legislative triumph."

Obama would have been justified in saying that his work paralleled that of McCain and that they had some of the same ethics goals. But saying that he "worked with" his Republican opponent on this is a huge exaggeration. He also can properly claim some credit for features of the new ethics law that weren't at first embraced by his party's leaders. But in the end the bill was hardly a test of party loyalty.

A Bad Abortion Stat, Again
Obama, who favors a legal right to abortion, noted that he was trying to "reduce the number of abortions." But he went too far when he falsely accused President Bush of failing to meet that same goal, saying incorrectly that "over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down."

Warren: Now, let's deal with abortion; 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. ...