direstraits: [american_liberals] McCain's Lobbying Scandal Defense Falls Apart a Little More

I think it's safe to say this is going to get worse for the
presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Since the NYT story about John McCain and Vicki Iseman broke on
Wednesday, there have been two angles to the controversy, one of
which clearly looked stronger than the other: 1) McCain's alleged
romance with this telecom lobbyist; and 2) McCain's professional
efforts to help the lobbyist's client. The senator and his campaign
have rejected both points.

The evidence pointing to the alleged adultery is still elusive, but
the evidence that McCain has lied about his efforts on behalf of
Iseman's client keeps piling up.

On Wednesday, the McCain campaign said, in writing, that "no
representative of Paxson or Alcalde & Fay personally asked Senator
McCain to send a letter" to the FCC on its behalf. Yesterday,
Newsweek reported that McCain gave a deposition in 2002 in which he
contradicted his own claim. Today, the WaPo makes matters worse for
McCain.

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements
from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did
not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial
letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf.

Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several
weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the
FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh
television station.

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended
the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the
meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably," Paxson said in an interview
with The Washington Post yesterday. "The woman was a professional.
She was good. She could get us meetings."

I think it's safe to say this is going to get worse for the
presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Let's step back briefly and set the stage -- during his first
presidential campaign, McCain took four trips aboard Paxson's
corporate jet to campaign events. Paxson company executives -- the
ones urging McCain to intervene on their behalf with federal
regulators -- had just ponied up $20,000 in campaign contributions.
Shortly thereafter, wouldn't you know it, McCain pressed the FCC to
give those nice Paxson folks the break they've been looking for.

And then, years later, with the pressure on, McCain lied about his
efforts. And got caught.

I think there's a perception in many circles that the NYT story was a
dud because the paper hadn't nailed down the adultery angle. Maybe
so. But the article has nevertheless created quite a headache for
McCain, for reasons that have nothing to do with any inappropriate
relationships.

The appearance of corruption certainly isn't helpful -- especially
given the perception of integrity McCain has worked so hard to sell --
but reporters seem to be waking up to the fact that the senator and
his campaign have tried to deceive people. As a rule, journalists a)
don't care for that; and b) perceive this as a sign of trouble,
causing them to dig deeper.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/77584