Not that anyone listens to him (except those in the media who need a quote from an anti-Republican from time to time) but John McCain has declared public financing a dead issue:

Sen. John McCain, an architect of sweeping campaign-finance reform who got walloped by a presidential candidate armed with more than $750 million, predicts that no one will ever again accept federal matching funds to run for the nation's highest office.

"No Republican in his or her right mind is going to agree to public financing. I mean, that's dead. That is over. The last candidate for president of the United States from a major party that will take public financing was me," the Arizona Republican told The Washington Times.

In an hourlong interview at the newspaper with editors and reporters Friday, Mr. McCain also questioned President Obama's pledge of bipartisanship, saying the Democrat has passed up several prime opportunities to work with Republican lawmakers. What's more, the new president has abandoned key campaign promises, from Iraq withdrawal to congressional earmarks to nuclear energy, he charged.

There is some poetic justice that the "architect" of such a miserable piece of legislation should find himself on the losing end of a race where his opponent thumbed his nose at the law. But the fact that the man who was the chief beneficiary of McCain's stupidity is a far left liberal who is seeking to alter America doesn't give any satisfaction.

Every attempt by McCain to establish himself as some kind of leader in the Republican party since his defeat has failed. He is a pariah of a politician and most Republican senators want little to do with him. But he will remain popular with his friends (re-found friends now that he's just another senator) in the media as long as he keeps trashing conservatives and members of his own party.

It's a role he seems very comfortable playing. I just hope he likes solitude.