Well, it would appear that a category 4 Blogstorm has erupted over the NYT’s story on John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman (For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk) which hints of a possible affair and a favor by McCain on behalf of Iseman’s client.
I honestly do not know what to make of the story at this point, as much will depend on the way McCain himself deals with the story (although the campaign’s response has been bland at best). McCain will hold a press conference on the subject today. I will say this: if he has any dirty laundry to air, better to do so right now rather than to be caught in a lie later.
Given that key portions of McCain’s appeal are supposed to be his character and his anti-corruption stances, this story has the potential to be quite damaging, especially if he ends up facing off against Obama, who has a visible, and seemingly quite stable, marriage1 and is running against lobbyists. Also, this raises the whole Keating Five business, which mostly has been relegated to the past.
Again: I don’t know what to make of the story at this stage, except to say that clearly this isn’t the kind of thing that the campaign wants to be dealing with at the moment.
Some Blogospheric reactions/observations that I found noteworthy:
- Josh Marshall makes some interesting observations about the story itself:
At the moment it seems to me that we have a story from the Times that reads like it’s had most of the meat lawyered out of it. And a lot of miscellany and fluff has been packed in where the meat was.
- Megan McArdle: “One does kind of wonder why they’re breaking an eight year-old story now.”
- James Joyner:
Nine years ago, aides were concerned that there might be an appearance of impropriety and sought to distance a candidate running on the need to reform lobbying from a lobbyist. Why is this front page news in the most important paper in the country?
- Mary Katharine Ham, blogging at Townhall, asks: What’s the Quickest Way to Rally Conservatives ‘Round McCain?. I find this interesting, insofar as I expect that this story will also give McCain’s GOP opponents some ammunition. However, it may well be the case that the animus that many on the right have towards the NYT will cause them to rally around McCain. In that camp, one can count John Hinderaker.
- Kevin Drum traces part of the “the NYT’s hand was forced” thesis.
- Philip Klinker @ Polysigh: “There’s only one man in America madder at the New York Times than John McCain–Mitt Romney. ”
Ok, so Act One is complete: the story is out. Now on to Act Two and the McCain response and quickly to Act Three, the political and media responses to his response.
Sphere: Related Content- His first and only wife as well [↩]
February 21st, 2008 at 9:05 am
The Iseman Cometh.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:49 am
McCain versus the NY Times
The NY Times: 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 …
February 21st, 2008 at 11:55 am
[...] –Political Scientist Dr. Steven Taylor who also has a good roundup: Given that key portions of McCain’s appeal are supposed to be his character and his anti-corruption stances, this story has the potential to be quite damaging, especially if he ends up facing off against Obama, who has a visible, and seemingly quite stable, marriage1 and is running against lobbyists. Also, this raises the whole Keating Five business, which mostly has been relegated to the past. [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
[...] There are many other Blogs and Media outlets commenting on this, they are: Firedoglake, The Swamp, The Huffington Post, MoJoBlog, Jonathan Martin’s Blogs, PressThink, Hot Air, New York Times, Redstate, Power Line, American Spectator, The Corner, TownHall Blog, Washington Wire, Middle Earth Journal, Marc Ambinder, Daily Kos, The Daily Dish, Weekly Standard, The New Nixon Blog, NY Daily News, PoliBlog (TM), The Seminal, The Jawa Report, Fausta’s blog, The Politico, StephenBainbridge.com, Trailhead, Commentary, Newsweek Blogs, Salon, The New Republic, PoliGazette, The Huffington Post, Political Machine, David Corn, Outside The Beltway, Blue Gal, Riehl World View, protein wisdom, Don Surber, The Carpetbagger Report, Stop The ACLU, New York Magazine, The Trail, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, Obsidian Wings, Anne Schroeder’s Blogs, Gothamist, The People’s Republic …, BuzzFlash.org, culturekitchen, NewsBusters.org, Balloon Juice, Prairie Weather, Fraters Libertas, Hullabaloo, TIME: Swampland, GregsOpinion.com, RealClearPolitics, LewRockwell.com Blog, Comments from Left Field, AMERICAblog, QandO, TIME, At-Largely, About.com Conservative …, Confederate Yankee, On Deadline, The Raw Story, Roger L. Simon, First Draft, The Campaign Spot, Sweetness & Light, Ankle Biting Pundits, Big Head DC, The Strata-Sphere and RADAR and More via Memeorandum [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
[...] The “scandal” of the day is the New York Times story that McCain, in his last presidential bid, had the “company” —a lot—of a young, good looking lobbyist who represented industries that would come before the very Senate committee McCain chaired at the time. [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
[...] There are many other Blogs and Media outlets commenting on this, they are: Firedoglake, The Swamp, The Huffington Post, MoJoBlog, Jonathan Martin’s Blogs, PressThink, Hot Air, New York Times, Redstate, Power Line, American Spectator, The Corner, TownHall Blog, Washington Wire, Middle Earth Journal, Marc Ambinder, Daily Kos, The Daily Dish, Weekly Standard, The New Nixon Blog, NY Daily News, PoliBlog (TM), The Seminal, The Jawa Report, Fausta’s blog, The Politico, StephenBainbridge.com, Trailhead, Commentary, Newsweek Blogs, Salon, The New Republic, PoliGazette, The Huffington Post, Political Machine, David Corn, Outside The Beltway, Blue Gal, Riehl World View, protein wisdom, Don Surber, The Carpetbagger Report, Stop The ACLU, New York Magazine, The Trail, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, Obsidian Wings, Anne Schroeder’s Blogs, Gothamist, The People’s Republic …, BuzzFlash.org, culturekitchen, NewsBusters.org, Balloon Juice, Prairie Weather, Fraters Libertas, Hullabaloo, TIME: Swampland, GregsOpinion.com, RealClearPolitics, LewRockwell.com Blog, Comments from Left Field, AMERICAblog, QandO, TIME, At-Largely, About.com Conservative …, Confederate Yankee, On Deadline, The Raw Story, Roger L. Simon, First Draft, The Campaign Spot, Sweetness & Light, Ankle Biting Pundits, Big Head DC, The Strata-Sphere and RADAR and More via Memeorandum [?] Share This Sphere: Related Content [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
It’s going to take a few days…maybe weeks…to judge the fallout from this McCain story.
So far, he seems to be handling the situation the correct way–making himself available for reporters’ questions and such.
What will be real interesting is to see whether Barack Obama manages to slip this in to his oratory?
Risky if he does. He campaigns as a new type candidate who does business in a different way. To attack McCain would only help prove tha he is the same as all the others.
Still, it must be a tempting target?