The bloom is off the rose, John. The end came after your staffer decided to take a New School student to task in your name, insulting her, her character and her passion. Sorry, you're done. Oh, and it's nice that you're give back the money from the Wyly Brothers...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) returned $20,000 in campaign contributions from two prominent Texas businessmen after staff members for his political action committee discovered that there was an investigation into one of their companies.

The donations were made to Straight Talk America -- McCain's leadership political action committee -- by Sam and Charles Wyly, billionaire brothers who have been major players in Republican fundraising for years. Each cut a $5,000 check to Straight Talk, as did Sam's wife, Cheryl, and Charles's son, Charles III.

The presidential campaign manager for Sen. John McCain filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission Monday alleging that a recent anti-McCain ad paid for by the seemingly spontaneously created Republicans for Clean Air Committee -- organized and paid for by a number of allies of Texas Gov. George W. Bush -- is in violation of federal laws.

The ad, launched last week in swing areas of New York, Ohio, California and Vermont, touted Bush as an environmentalist and accused McCain of being a polluter, a charge disputed by environmental organizations like the Sierra Club. The ad -- and at least a $2.5 million ad buy -- is being paid for by Sam and Charles Wyly, who together have given more than $210,000 to Bush's past two gubernatorial campaigns.
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Hughes also charged that "the media should be ashamed for playing along with" the McCain campaign's charges, providing unbalanced coverage of the Wyly brothers' ad and the ensuing controversy. Although the Bush campaign has repeatedly denied knowing anything about the ads, Hughes says, "If you read the [press] reports over the last two days, it's sort of a wink and a nod, like 'Sure they did.'"

Davis said that the charge filed with the FCC was just against the Wyly brothers for an alleged "violation of the disclaimer law." Since Republicans for Clean Air is not a real organization, Davis said, the ad should say "paid for and authorized by Sam and Charles Wyly," Davis said.

The more serious charge, filed with the FEC, claims the Bush campaign "coordinated expenditures," a serious violation of federal law. Since Charles Wyly is a "Pioneer" -- the Bush fund-raisers charged with raising more than $100,000 apiece for the governor's campaign -- he falls into one of two categories in relation to the Bush for President campaign, Davis said.

Republicans, nice to look at, but don't feed them please, they'll just multiply.