There's one thing that the mess over campaign fund raising proves. Even insincerity can reach a critical mass, that point where a heavy convergence of posturing emits a detectable unit of political substance. Something of that kind produced the chain reaction that moved the McCain-Feingold reform bill to the Senate floor last week. What it mainly required was that a President trying to sidestep his own problems bump up against Republicans briefly eager not to look like defenders of a system they have spared no effort in the past to defend.
The first move was Bill Clinton's. Bouncing smartly off the...