A little background: Charges of McCain hypocrisy on Special Interests is nothing new ...
The Huffington Post: HuffPost Exclusive: More Lobbyists On McCain Staff Than Any Other 08 Candidate
The Huffington Post's Thomas Edsall reported on McCain lobbyist hypocrisy back in June 2007 stated that GOP Presidential candidate John McCain, "who made his name attacking special interests, has more lobbyists working on his staff or as advisers than any of his competitors, Republican or Democrat."
On the McCain-Iseman Lobbyist Scandal ...
Plenty of current criticism aligned with the New York Times article, such as the following two articles ...
The Huffington Post: McCain: The 'Anti-Lobbyist' Who Works With Lobbyists
Washington Post: The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists
The Sexual Relationship Question ...
TheAtlantic.com (blog by Matthew Yglesias): McCain and Iseman
Certainly it'd be a bit rich of McCain to get outraged that anyone would even suggest that he might engage in sexual improprieties. After all, it's well known that he repeatedly cheated on his first wife Carol, of a number of years, with a variety of women, before eventually dumping her for a much-younger heiress whose family fortune was able to help finance his political career. That's well known, I should say, except to the electorate, who would probably find that this sort of behavior detracts from McCain's "character" appeal.
Many just feel the New York Time McCain-Iseman article degrades the reputation of the New York Times ...
Slate (Reply Comment): Unfit to Print
Thanks to lack of evidence, the article reads not like an exposé but like an elaborate and extended piece of insinuation. Surely this must will (sic) damage the New York Times more than John McCain: Who will believe their reporting on him now?
Newsweek (by Andrew Romano): What We Actually Know About McCain and Iseman
[About the "romantic relationship:] We have no idea whatsoever. First of all, the story doesn't pretend to prove that an affair was actually going on. Instead, it says that "top advisers" were "convinced the relationship had become romantic" and "intervened to protect the candidate from himself." The distinction is important; we're talking about concerns within a campaign, not anything approaching evidence of a love connection.
Forget the "romantic relationship"; at this point, it remains a huge, hovering question mark. For now, whether you think McCain did anything wrong depends largely on whether you believe he should be held to the standards of "politics as usual"--or whether he should be held to the standards he's set for himself.
Forget the "romantic relationship"; at this point, it remains a huge, hovering question mark. For now, whether you think McCain did anything wrong depends largely on whether you believe he should be held to the standards of "politics as usual"--or whether he should be held to the standards he's set for himself.
FOXNEWS is reporting the controversy is actually helping McCain's campaign with more people donating money to the campaign and more Republicans standing behind him.
Supporters describe McCain's association with lobbyists as routine and that he has too much integrity to let personal connections influence him.
See for yourself ...
The infamous NYT article of February 21, 2008 ...
New York Times Article: For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk
Blogger info ...
Thomas B. Edsall is the political editor of the Huffington Post. He is also Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. From 1981 to 2006, he was a political reporter at the Washington Post. He is the author of Chain Reaction and Building Red America.
Andrew Romano is a Newsweek Assistant Editor and Political Blogger and has been traveling with 2008 presidential candidates for his daily roadshow on his blog, Stumper. Romano has campaigned with Al Franken, interviewed Paul McCartney, profiled the Howard Dean alums in charge of John Edwards' and Barack Obama's Internet campaigns
Matthew Yglesias is one of the few bloggers whose work is cited regularly on both sides of the blogosphere, receiving frequent mentions from liberals Duncan Black and Kevin Drum but also conservative writers Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan. Yglesias is also known as Big Media Matt. Matthew Yglesias has written for the American Prospect and the New York Times Magazine.
