John McCain is famous for many things. One of those is the McCain-Feingold Act designed to limit the role of corporate money in politics. But his actions suggest an eagerness to accept corporate money as a means to his political ends.

Here are three:

• Protects campaign contributor from S&L regulators costing government billions. In the 1980s, McCain intervened to keep regulators away from Charles Keating, a Savings & Loan operator, who contributed to McCain's campaign and let McCain's wife co-invest in a real estate deal. Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan ultimately failed, costing taxpayers $3.4 billion.
• Sways $100 billion U.S. Air Force contract to European company. In February the Air Force awarded a $100 billion contract for refueling Tankers to EADS, the parent of Airbus, and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC). As I posted, McCain's campaign finance chair was a lobbyist for EADS who arranged to send much of this contract to non-U.S. workers. McCain now employs the people who lobbied for EADS on his own staff. EADS retained The Loeffler Group to lobby for the tanker deal in 2007. Loeffler Group lobbyists on the project included Tom Loeffler, who lobbies for EADS and serves as McCain's national finance chairman and Susan Nelson, who left Loeffler and is now the campaign's finance director. EADS employees donated $14,000 to McCain's presidential campaign, more than any other member of Congress this election cycle; and