McCain's Very Bad Day
» NYT: For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk
Just a reminder that it's not just the Obamania bubble that could burst ...
Mr. McCain's confidence in his ability to distinguish personal friendships from compromising connections was at the center of questions advisers raised about Ms. Iseman.The lobbyist, a partner at the firm Alcalde & Fay, represented telecommunications companies for whom Mr. McCain's commerce committee was pivotal. Her clients contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his campaigns.
Mr. Black said Mr. McCain and Ms. Iseman were friends and nothing more. But in 1999 she began showing up so frequently in his offices and at campaign events that staff members took notice. One recalled asking, "Why is she always around?"
That February, Mr. McCain and Ms. Iseman attended a small fund-raising dinner with several clients at the Miami-area home of a cruise-line executive and then flew back to Washington along with a campaign aide on the corporate jet of one of her clients, Paxson Communications. By then, according to two former McCain associates, some of the senator's advisers had grown so concerned that the relationship had become romantic that they took steps to intervene.
A former campaign adviser described being instructed to keep Ms. Iseman away from the senator at public events, while a Senate aide recalled plans to limit Ms. Iseman's access to his offices.
In interviews, the two former associates said they joined in a series of confrontations with Mr. McCain, warning him that he was risking his campaign and career. Both said Mr. McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Ms. Iseman. The two associates, who said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.
Separately, a top McCain aide met with Ms. Iseman at Union Station in Washington to ask her to stay away from the senator. John Weaver, a former top strategist and now an informal campaign adviser, said in an e-mail message that he arranged the meeting after "a discussion among the campaign leadership" about her.
"Our political messaging during that time period centered around taking on the special interests and placing the nation's interests before either personal or special interest," Mr. Weaver continued. "Ms. Iseman's involvement in the campaign, it was felt by us, could undermine that effort."
Politico, meanwhile, details the McCain camp's "War Against the NY Times":
The McCain campaign is using a two-pronged attack to push back against the story. First, they'll argue it was a thinly sourced piece of innuendo journalism. But McCain aides also will strike at the source, using the Times' liberal reputation as a means of self-defense to draw sympathy from the GOP's conservative base.
Ahem ... I believe I've been saying for some time now that the only reason rightwingers ever took up the whole "liberal media" mythology was to merely deflect bad news that inevitably befalls all campaigns. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Liberal media" is a straw man -- not the true problem, one way or another. We know for a fact that the New York Times, not unlike the Houston Chronicle, is usually quite liberal. But the more important dynamic, the more insidious dynamic that highlights how sick all the media have become, is the reliable tendency to set up a politician only for the purpose of knocking him/her down. In this case, the story is despicable because it is nothing but gossip, on the front page of the most famous newspaper in America. Why do they want to compete with the New York Post for sleeze? The whole affair turns my stomach, and I have no respect for the media hacks who cover it as a serious story. They need to go back to Woodward & Bernstein 101.
Fact is, we should respect a man his age who is still capable of having an affair. If it's true, I salute him!
I'm not sure what part of your analysis to take apart first, Dale.
Either you believe that "liberal media" is a straw man or you believe that the Time is "quite liberal" ... pick one. It's not a straw man if you accept the myth, though.
Secondly ... going back to "Woodward & Bernstein 101"??? Might want to dust off the copy of "All the President's Men." The reporting on that story was based on similarly unnamed sources. Confounding this point even more is Mark weaver's own damning on-the-record quote with the Times ... a quote that not even the McCain campaign is disputing.
..."liberal media" mythology was to merely deflect bad news that inevitably befalls all campaigns. Nothing more, nothing less.
Yeah, it's not like the media ever forged some documents to get George Bush. Oh wait, they did.
Hmmm, if that makes "the media" (does that include KSEV?) liberal, then what does Jeff Gerth make them? ... or the guys who stalked Gary Hart? ... or Lou Dobbs?
You just can't Grego. The Dan/Robin Rather/DNC/media nexus is undeniable.
Unprovable more like it.