McCain and EADS

So John McCain scuttled an Air Force scheme to lease tankers from Boeing in a sweetheart deal. And then he pressured the Air Force to open a competitive bid on its new tanker contract.

So far, so fair.

But then EADS won the bid over Boeing. And although Abu Muqawama approves of the deal, several of this blog's readers do not. Abu Muqawama is anxious, then, to hear the dissenters' opinions on the roles played by senior advisers to John McCain in the EADS bid.

The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — A co-chairman of Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign and other top campaign advisers and supporters were lobbyists for the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, part of a group that beat out Boeing for a $35 billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force.

More from the Washington Post.

Abu Muqawama is no politician and knows less than nothing about political campaigns, but it doesn't take a James Carville to guess that given the already protectionist tone struck by both Democrats in the campaign so far, they are going to hammer McCain on this. Thoughts from the peanut gallery?