[TomGuy]

As I recall it was moderate Republicans (and some conservatives, like Fred Thompson!) who allowed McCain-Feingold to go through.

Reality is such a bubble-buster. The original bill was labeled McCain-Feingold-Thompson.

Thompson didn't just allow McCain-Feingold to go through. He was chairman of the committee that wrote the damn thing.

[TNCMAXQ]

You are right about Thompson. That is one reason I was less than enthusiastic about his candidacy though I eventually voted for him in the primary.

I say he and other Republicans “allowed” the bill to pass because they were the deciding votes, I think, even though they were a minority in the GOP. The coalition of moderate Repubs and Dems got the bill through, and broke the filibuster that Mitch McConnell and others supported.

GWB stood up to al qaeda and the bad guys but he sort of caved when it came to this issue and it cost him and the party a lot. Very bad.