It also makes a lot of sense because Republicans need to shake the image that this is a political party of, by, and for corporate America. But the Bush team doesn't see it that way. Of course, that's precisely McCain's point. Don Evans is a sensible and well-meaning man, but his response to the McCain idea is quite discouraging. First, of all, lest we all need reminding in this new era of compassionate conservatism, there shouldn't be a Commerce Department.
Cabinet agency is the epicenter of the corporate-welfare state.
Republicans were dead on when they argued in 1995 that this agency should be boarded up. If there has to be a Commerce Department, there at least shouldn't be anymore of these trade missions. This is precisely why the Bushies have rejected the McCain proposal. It reeks to high hell. The Clinton administration, of course, under the late Secretary Ron Brown, turned these fundraisers in the sky into an art form.