McCain was successful in co-opting the press

John McCain, as a famous Senator from Arizona, had gotten lots of mileage from his five-year internment inside a Vietnamese magista pas cher prisoner of war (POW) camp; rather than the more realistic portrayal of him like a pure victim, the slick public relations machine he'd cultivated was able to spin him right into a full-blown hero. Generally, McCain was successful in co-opting the press with what would be a somewhat blind quest for political glory. His critics opined he never met a camera he didn?t like or headline-grabbing issue he was not willing to sell himself out to. But he had a following, particularly among the media, which was willing to disregard the fact that despite his public stance for campaign finance reform, McCain was among the great abusers of the process; in fact, he was one of the disgraced people in the "Keating Five," which doled out political influence in return for hefty contributions and financial favors.

Though he'd been labeled a "maverick" by most of the press corps, McCain was hardly that; rather, he was he was a very calculating political animal who often saw which way the wind was blowing and hurled himself - with sycophantic media grasping on to his boots - in that direction.

McCain purported to be a lifelong boxing fan, and claimed to become a boxer of some note at the Naval Academy, where he gained admission as a "legacy" (his father was an alumnus) and graduated near the bottom of his class. He favored legislation to create some federal control of boxing and would later spearhead efforts to pass through more extensive bills in that quest. He was quite fond of accepting free tickets from the very promoters his legislation might have regulatory authority over. Coincidentally, these gifts and gratuities often landed him ringside, right in camera view, throughout an HBO or Showtime telecast.

Right from the start, there was likely to be some establishment resistance to mma. The game, using its absence of structured rules, didn't fit into the regulations which were laid out by the athletic commissions across the nation. In fact, the majority of the regulatory people didn?t understand it, and for that reason had no idea how to classify it. It certainly wasn?t boxing, which used hands only, or kick boxing, which allowed for kicks and that was magista pas cher sanctioned in some states. Also it most definitely wasn't a "worked" sport like pro wrestling, that also fell under the jurisdiction of some of the athletic commissions.

Plus, there is not really enough mma activity going on for the states to take the break to draft rules and regulations for it. If there is the potential of only a few events each year, why are they going to feel the process of engaging commission attorneys to attract up a brand new set of rules, or approach their state legislature having a bill to be passed, to be able to accommodate it?

Besides, there was a growing - and influential - constituency of people that looked upon mma as "barbarism" and "bloodsport." Many of these people used an expression that became a standard for affordable shots as time progressed - "human cock fighting."

When you have pervading mainstream attitudes like this, the climate is ripe for political opportunity. And affirmed, from the mercurial pas cher rubble emerged one of the great political opportunists of recent years.