McConnell gave John McCain (whom the crowd booed during his speech) a rather tepid endorsement, saying "I've had some disagreements with John McCain over the years, but he's my friend. More importantly for this race, he's a conservative. And he has my full support."

As we've said before, calling it "some disagreements" is a large understatement. McCain and McConnell have butted heads repeatedly over the years, specifically on campaign finance and pork barrel spending.

McCain comes from the more rational school of thought that big money interests shouldn't be able to buy and sell politicians, and we shouldn't sneak earmarks into legislation that run up our deficit. McConnell, however, believes that corporate interests' ability to bribe politicians and ensure their election is "free speech". A LOT of fat cats have "spoken" to Mitch over the years, of course. Mitch also believes that earmarks and pork barrel spending, which bankrupt our government and burdens the next generation of Americans, is a great way to buy votes and "reward" his campaign contributors.

And as the Romney campaign pointed out not too long ago, the dislike between these two has lead to some, uh, heated exchanges:

Sen. McCain Accused Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Of The "Most Egregious Incident" Of Corruption He Had Seen In The Senate. "It escalated when McCain reiterated the charges Oct. 10 in a cross-examination, calling McConnell's actions the 'most egregious incident' demonstrating the appearance of corruption he has ever seen in his Senate career." (Amy Keller, "Attacks Escalate In Depositions," Roll Call, 10/21/02)

Ouch! There's some straight-talk for you, Mitch!

But their disagreements have an even longer history. Let's go all the way back to the time when Mitch McConnell was an ass-kissing college student, looking to suck up to Senator John Sherman Cooper for a job. John McCain's small government, traditional conservative hero from Arizona, Sen. Barry Goldwater, apparently did not have a fan in young Mitch McConnell.

In a brown-nosing letter to Cooper's Administrative Assistant, Bailey Guard in 1965 (one of many), McConnell trashed the "Goldwater fiasco" and "extreme right-wing groups" on UK's campus like the "UK Young Republican Club", saying that Republicans should try to attract "progressives", who are the "majority of young people".

In all likelihood, McConnell was lying through his teeth just to stroke the ego of the moderate Cooper and get a job. This of course shows us that Mitch McConnell has always been willing to say anything just to gain more power. It's always been about Mitch, not ideology or principles.

So add McConnell throwing the conservative godfather Goldwater under the bus to the list of beefs that McCain has with McConnell.

It will be fun watching these two guys who hate each other try to win Kentucky. Will they campaign together, or even speak to each other?

The letter is here and here.