Legal Commentary

David Brooks has a nice op-ed on McCain's courageous opposition to the Farm Bill and Obama's disappointing support for it.

I admire both candidates, but I think that Brooks is absolutely right: McCain just scored big against Obama in the race to win the LaFollette award for political courage (see my earlier May 14th post on this topic). Obama's supporters ought to doff their cap to McCain for opposing the inexcusable even at the risk of several swing states (e.g., Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, and Michigan, which have large and powerful farmer blocs). Unlike NAFTA, the war in Iraq, or other ideologically controversial issues, this farm bill is really, uncontroversially, egregiously bad, whether you sit on the Left or Right.