A Tough Day at the Office For John McCain

When you’ve spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war, it probably puts a lot of life’s trials and tribulations into perspective. Nevertheless, this had to be a difficult day for John McCain.

The New York Times published a story today questioning McCain’s relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

“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.”

Full story is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

The response from the McCain campaign:

“It is a shame that The New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit-and-run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election.

“Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”

If there was no hint of sex, this probably wouldn’t be a story. Having done pieces like this myself over the years, I would say it’s likely there’s a whole lot more to the story that the Times didn’t have enough confirmation to print. No matter what this story might make you think of the Times, there’s an enormous level of apprehension at work before you go to press with a story that’s a major hit piece against a front runner presidential candidate in the midst of a campaign.

Just ask Dan Rather what happened to his career for a sense of the consequences of getting it wrong, even if you think you have solid evidence.

Most of the Times report is insider intrigue, behind the scenes from the campaign about which aide said what to whom and whether the Senator know about it all.

What seems to be the real issue is whether McCain used his influence for the lobbyist and her clients, whether he had a romantic relationship with her or not.

That part of the story is buried at the end and is, at best, convoluted. It does evoke some painful memories of McCain's role in the 1980's as a member of the infamous Keating Five, tied to the multi-billion dollar savings and loan scandal which was ultimately paid for by taxpayers. Since then, McCain has been a crusader against special interest money in politics, but this issue tends to undermine his credibility on that front.

On the up side for McCain, he finally has something in common with Rush Limbaugh and the conservative talk show crowd- an antipathy toward the New York Times. The very same conservatives that had been relentlessly bashing McCain for weeks saying he would ruin the Republican party have now come to his defense and a welcome opportunity to bash a news organization perceived as hostile to their issues and beliefs.

The McCain campaign denial seems ill considered, especially since they had a long time to craft it as the Times had been in touch with them for weeks prior to the story’s publication.

“He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists.”

Never, never, never say “never” in a denial. It just sets the bar way to high when you can have widely varying differences of opinion on what defines favors or violation of the public trust.

If other news organizations have more salacious details about McCain and Vicki Iseman, this story may continue. If not, it may fade away and we can get back to talking about McCain’s lack of a real plan on health care, his support for continuing tax cuts for billionaires and his strategy of long term military involvement in Iraq.

But as Bill Clinton, Gary Hart and many others can attest, we’d much rather obsess about a tawdry affair than issues that actually affect our own lives.