Mitch McConnell, Plain Blog Hero?

Jonathan Chait makes the case today that Mitch McConnell is rallying in defense of earmarks because

McConnell, more than anything else, is an opponent of good-government reform. Opposition to campaign finance reform was the fight of his life, the cause that aroused the most genuine passion in him. He just loathes the idea that reforms are needed to cleanse the government of corruption.

Hmmm...this blog generally doesn't take positions on issues of public policy, but regular readers know that my biggest exception is anything that even hints of Good Government reform.  I've been well aware that McConnell has basically been on what I consider the correct side of money in politics policy, but I've always assumed that it was just partisan hackery on his part (not that I'm against partisan hackery, of course).  Chait, however, makes a pretty good argument that McConnell may actually be acting on anti-Goo Goo principle.  Could be!  Anyway, I like earmarks, or anything else that can grease the skids and promotes dealmaking and logrolling in Congress.

I for one am watching to see if he wants to bring back the spoils system, or at least comes out forcefully against open government.  Hey, I'll take a proposal to erect a monument to George Washington Plunkitt somewhere on the Capitol grounds.

Otherwise, I'll still suspect he's just a partisan hack.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but...

(And, yes, I don't have a pure Bad Government position on campaign finance; I'm for Floors not Ceilings plus real, effective, enforced disclosure, which would involve partial public financing of Congressional elections).

(Also: UPDATE: spelling error in the title corrected.  McConnell: two c's, two n's, two l's.  How hard can that be?  Ugh.  Sorry).