Free Republic

Tom Maguire has up a great post detailing many details some of us may have forgotten about this McCain non-story. First up is this TNR piece which purports to tell us all the backroom dealings going on at The Times regarding the story: The McCain investigation began in November, after Rutenberg, who covers the political media and advertising beat, got a tip. Within a few days, Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet assigned Thompson and Labaton to join the project and, later, conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick to chip in as well. Labaton brought his expertise with regulatory issues to the...

<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>

John McCain can deny the latest allegations all he wants. He can try to push back by blaming everything on the New York Times. And he can state, as he did Thursday morning, that in his 50 years of “public service,” he has “never violated the public trust.” Oh, really? How about back in 1974 when then Commander John McCain--fresh off his 5½ years as a POW in North Vietnam--was given his first command in Jacksonville, Florida? McCain, according to Robert Timberg in his book, The Nightingale's Song, was transferred to Jacksonville as the executive officer of Replacement Air Group...

Top Republicans are absolutely apoplectic over new reports that John McCain had an ethically inappropriate (possibly romantic) relationship with a lobbyist, accepted favors from corporations while criticizing the practice, and ran an Orwellian-branded soft money operation, "The Reform Institute," to advance his career and political cronies while railing against soft money. But the G.O.P. elites aren't mad that McCain did any of those things. They're upset that the media is covering it. In fact, the rage is so intense that many of McCain's harshest Republican critics are rallying around the ethically challenged Senator. The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder cites reactions from...

Media Bias: Now that it's clear John McCain will get the GOP presidential nod, whatever "truce" he may have had with the press corps has expired. Not surprisingly, the New York Times has started the feeding frenzy.Sen. McCain made a point of making reporters feel at home aboard his Straight Talk Express, giving them plenty of face time. But anyone who thought that would inoculate him — a Republican seeking the White House — against the wrath of the media establishment doesn't know what makes that institution tick. The Times on Thursday finally published a story it has been working...

TOLEDO,Ohio— Senator John McCain said Thursday that an article in The New York Times about his close ties to a woman lobbyist was untrue, that he had no romantic relationship with the lobbyist and that he had no confrontations in 1999 with worried staff members who told him to stay away from her.“Obviously, I’m very disappointed in the article—it’s not true,” Mr. McCain said at a morning news conference in Toledo, where he was campaigning for president. “At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust or make a decision which in any way would...

One of two things will happen in the wake of Thursday's New York Times story that suggested John McCain may have had a "romantic relationship" nine years ago with a lobbyist who did business before the Senate Commerce Committee which he then chaired. (The story purported to be about McCain's ethics and dealings with D.C. lobbyists, in a failed attempt to gloss gossip with a patina of gravitas.) Either new information will come forward to corroborate this weak story - based solely on the speculation - as opposed to actual knowledge - of two sources (who refused to be named...

Last night, around dinnertime, The New York Times posted on its website a 3,000-word investigation detailing Senator John McCain's connections to a telecommunications lobbyist named Vicki Iseman. The controversial piece, written by Washington bureau reporters Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn Thompson, Stephen Labaton, and David Kirkpatrick, and published in this morning's paper, explores the possibility that the Republican presidential candidate may have had an affair with the 40-year-old blond-haired lobbyist for the telecommunications industry while he chaired the Senate Commerce Committee in the late-1990s. Beyond its revelations, however, what's most remarkable about the article is that it appeared in the paper at...

Not very shocking that the Times would leave something like this out of their McCain story: Robert Bennett, a Washington attorney representing McCain, told NBC’s “Today” show that McCain’s staff provided the Times with “approximately 12 instances where Senator McCain took positions adverse to this lobbyist’s clients and her public relations firm’s clients,” but none of the examples were included in the paper’s story. Highlight the instances where it benefited the company, but ignore all the times where it went against them….nope, no bias there. [?] Share This

WASHINGTON - John McCain sought to minimize damage to his man-of-character image and his presidential hopes Thursday, vigorously denying and denouncing a newspaper report suggesting an improper relationship with a female lobbyist. "It's not true," the likely Republican nominee said of the report that implied a romantic link with telecommunications lobbyist Vicki Iseman and suggested McCain pushed legislation that would have benefited her clients. "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust," said McCain, a four-term Arizona senator and a hero of the Vietnam War. He described the lobbyist as a friend. McCain and...

What is a powerful, successful woman in Washington to do? She spends years developing a client list and building relationships with (mostly male) politicians. But, reading today's news, as soon as that politician rises to a powerful position, she's to remove herself lest anyone suspect their relationship is romantic. I can just hear the partnership meeting now: "Sorry, Betty, but---now that politican A has become chairman of the XXX committee---it's time for you to let Richard take over that portfolio you've built up. Can't have people think Politican A has a crush on you, now can we?!". Just more double...

Claims that the charges against McCain are “unsourced” leave out one source that is prominently mentioned: John Weaver.So – who is he, and can he be believed? I recall that Weaver’s name was directly associated with the stories, delivered to the press in the 2004 Bush-Kerry contest, that McCain was flirting with an offer floated by Kerry to become Kerry’s running mate. In the retelling of that story by the Kerry people, the person who is square in the middle of the discussions and negotiations was -- John Weaver. When McCain’s campaign was imploding, back in the fall 07, because...

File under Law of Unintended Consequences . . . There has been significant speculation in the MSM that an upshot of the NYT's McCain piece could be to rally support for McCain from conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who heretofore have been, shall we say, less than enthusiastic about the Arizona senator. Typical was this exchange from today's Good Morning America, which followed an appearance by McCain campaign advisor Charlie Black. View video here.

Conservative Media Attack New York Times Talk Radio Hosts Lambaste Newspaper; Tweak McCain for 'Cozy' Relationship With Media By JENNIFER PARKER Feb. 21, 2008 — Conservative media outlets lambasted the New York Times today for front-page story reporting Sen. John McCain had what aides believed was a romantic relationship with a lobbyist in 1999. But they slapped McCain -- who has never been a darling of the talk radio world -- for what they called a "cozy" relationship with the mainstream press. "If you let the media make you, you are subjecting yourself to being able to let the media...

The lobbying firm Vicky Iseman works for, Alcalde & Fay, released the following statement on the Times' article, Iseman being named and the allegations that she had an affair with McCain: "The allegations and malicious innuendo reported by the New York Times yesterday are completely and utterly false," writes Kevin Fay, president of the firm. "Alcalde & Fay's relationship with Senator McCain has been professional, appropriate and consistent with his legislative, jurisdictional and constituent duties. The story is based upon the fantasies of a disgruntled former campaign employee and is without foundation or merit. Ms. Iseman is a hard working...

Wednesday, John McCain’s decade-long honeymoon as the favorite Republican of the mainstream media came to a crashing halt. In a remarkable coincidence, Wednesday marked approximately one week of McCain feeling so assured of the Republican nomination that he stopped attacking conservatives and began attacking Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. McCain, long a maverick, and the infallible, unassailable, war hero engineer of the “Straight Talk Express” is now just another Republican: an obstacle to the Democrat Party, to be denigrated, besmirched, harassed, undermined, gossiped about and ultimately destroyed. Welcome home, John. I can’t say we missed you, but it’s amusing to...

Commentary: Insufficient sourcing weakens paper's argument NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - The New York Times' front-page story on John McCain on Thursday was an example of shoddy journalism. The piece raised the possibility that McCain had had a fling with a lobbyist 31 years his junior. It offered no legitimate basis, other than the whispers of unnamed sources - the most questionable form of reporting in a democratic society. McCain said in a televised press conference Thursday morning from Ohio that the story was "not true" and added that he was "very disappointed" in the Times. McCain was no doubt worried...

This piece originally appeared on The American Thinker Blog The New York Times story alleging "impropriety" on the part of John McCain with a female lobbyist has several different angles to it but basically, it comes down to a story about sexual infidelity – a perfect start to the Times effort to smear McCain. That’s what the Times is peddling. And it is why they decided to run the story despite the fact that the legitimate issues they raise about McCain doing the bidding of this lobbyist is so thin that it’s damn near invisible. Ed Morrissey nails it: The...

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....

Aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have released a remarkable 1,500-word document outlining what his campaign calls "some of the facts that were provided to the New York Times but did not end up in the story." Here is the full text: The New York Times article states, “A champion of deregulation, Mr. McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city, a crucial issue for Glencairn Ltd., one of Iseman’s clients. He introduced a bill to create tax...