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NYT Bomb

Long-rumored, dropped. McCain was overly close with a female lobbyist, wrote letters to regulators on behalf of her clients in 2000 campaign. Campaign bigs confronted him, her, poured cold water on what they suspected was a romantic relationship. According to NYT, that is:  

WASHINGTON — Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.

It had been just a decade since an official favor for a friend with regulatory problems had nearly ended Mr. McCain’s political career by ensnaring him in the Keating Five scandal. In the years that followed, he reinvented himself as the scourge of special interests, a crusader for stricter ethics and campaign finance rules, a man of honor chastened by a brush with shame.

It’s interesting that this article has no lede. That “beep beep beep” you hear in the first five graphs is a truck backing in without much of a load in the hopper. 

NYT fills out its four pages with a Keating Five and McCain-Feingold rehash, issues a lot of voters have been uncomfortable to enraged about through the present but apparently not deal killers, then gets to some sources expressing their discomfort and suspicions about a lobbyist’s access, and some letters to regulators. A quick read looks like the NYT might have some smoke, or maybe steam, but no fire or boiler explosion. 

Blast to come? Could happen. Obama has his own ethical issues, more recent, financial. I don’t know that Clinton would find it productive to go too far down either of those roads, love or money. Who knows, maybe unsubstantiated hints of autumn romance get the old geezer over the age hump.

Topics: McCain, pols

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:55 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2008

9 Responses to “NYT Bomb”

1. JammieWearingFool Says:
   February 20th, 2008 at 10:37 pm

   Well, That Didn’t Take Long

   How convenient. John McCain pretty much wraps up the GOP nomination Tuesday night, and the New York Times has a lengthy hitpiece rolled out the next day, devoting four reporters and two researchers, overtly hinting that he had an affair eight years a…

2. Don Surber » Blog Archive » Sex is private, 2008 Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 12:30 am

   [...] Rising, the talking dog, Bang the Drum, Political Machine, All Spin Zone, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog, Jules Crittenden, Pensito Review, Sister Toldjah, MyDD, American Spectator, Oliver Willis, The Gun Toting [...]

3. Editorial: The New York Times John McCain Story – Cheap Political Journalism « Wayward Fundamentalist Christian Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 3:19 am

   [...] Attytood, Emptywheel, All Spin Zone, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, AMERICAblog, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Jules Crittenden, Prairie Weather, TBogg, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, FOX Embeds, Pensito Review, [...]

4. saltydog Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 7:20 am

   The gray lady has become more like Norman Bates’ mother. Bury her already.

5. El Cid Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 7:56 am

   Saltydog

   And YOU expect ME to forget “throwaway lines” like THAT?…LOL.

6. hit job — infotainment rules Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 8:44 am

   [...] All Spin Zone, the talking dog, Washington Wire, Wonkette, D-Day, Attytood, Prairie Weather, Jules Crittenden, Pandagon, Megan McArdle, TBogg, Politics Blog, Gateway Pundit, McCain Central, THE LIBERAL [...]

7. Liberty Pundit Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 9:27 am

   That Didn’t Take Long

   Message to McCain: these people in the media are not your friends:
   Early in Senator John McCai…
   Popularity: unranked [?]…

8. Fatty Bolger Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 10:18 am

   Well, we all knew this would be coming as soon as he locked up the nomination, didn’t we? I wonder how he’ll handle his transformation from media darling to media target. McCain didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday so I’ll assume he knew this was coming and is prepared to handle it.

   Makes me wonder when the NYT will report on the speculation about Huma Abedin being Hillary Clinton’s lover. I’m curious as to how a mere travel aid could afford to buy such fabulous clothes and what must have been a very expensive apartment in Washington, DC. The speculation about Huma and Hillary is as well sourced as this McCain article, so I’m sure they’re going to put that on the front page any day now. Any day now….

9. Jules Crittenden » Flanking Attack Says:
   February 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am

   [...] less than subtle way flagging it? Lack of any support for its position is no obstacle, as we saw last week. But if so in this case, the NYT report notes in balance it would be a fool’s errand. Anyone [...]

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