February 21, 2008
John McCain forced to deny romantic link with lobbyist
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The timing of the allegations comes as Mr McCain had begun to build bridges with his party's conservative base and as the Republican establishment have rallied behind him in anticipation of a general election fight against either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
The potentially most damaging allegations contained in the article centre on Mr McCain's reported conflicts of interests in the areas of political funding and lobbying. He has built a reputation as a scourge of the excesses of both but is accused of several instances of hypocrisy.
John McCain And The Telecom Lobbyist
By Kevin Drum
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(Political Animal) JOHN McCAIN AND THE TELECOM LOBBYIST....OK, let's dive into the John McCain story. According to a heavily padded piece in the New York Times today, several of Mr. Straight Talk's aides became concerned during the 2000 campaign that he was spending a wee bit too much time with an attractive, 32-year-old telecom lobbyist named Vicki Iseman:
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Josh Marshall thinks there's more here than meets the eye:
At the moment it seems to me that we have a story from the Times that reads like it's had most of the meat lawyered out of it. And a lot of miscellany and fluff has been packed in where the meat was.Radar reports that the Times, which has been chasing this story at least since December, only published now because it was forced into it:
....I find it very difficult to believe that the Times would have put their chin so far out on this story if they didn't know a lot more than they felt they could put in the article, at least on the first go....Equally telling [] is the McCain camp's response and their clear unwillingness to address or deny any the key charges of the piece. (Read the statement closely. It's all bluster.)
Michael Isikoff of Newsweek and Michael Calderone of Politico were two of the reporters at rival publications who were chasing the Times story. Calderone was particularly well informed about the details of the Times investigation.Over at Politico, though, Calderone says it was the New Republic who forced their hand:
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.