John McCain Watch: What Favors Did Senator McCain Provide Vicki Iseman?
Drudge had this piece on December 20, 2007 immediately proceeding John McCain’s surge to defeat Mitt Romney in New Hampshire
Why did the New York Times “SPIKE” this story?
Surely this would NOT have played well with New Hampshire, South Carolina and Super Tuesday voters.
Now, McCain must deny not only a romantic relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman but also must deny hypocritical special interest favors and access to her and her firm.
John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was last night romantically linked to a 40-year-old female political lobbyist and accused of granting her clients political favours.
Mr McCain, 71, fiercely denied a report in the New York Times which stated that eight years ago, during his first run for the White House, his aides were so concerned about his relationship with Vicki Iseman that they blocked her access to him to “protect the candidate from himself”.
Mr McCain and Ms Iseman both denied to the newspaper – which has been sitting on the story for several weeks – that they had ever had a romantic relationship. The story was first alluded to on the Drudge Report website just before the Iowa and New Hampshire nomination contests, but after frantic lobbying by Mr McCain and his aides at the time the New York Times did not publish it then.
If you remember at the time of the Drudge piece and the frantic yet successful lobbying by Team McCain to keep the piece out of the New York Times, Mike Huckabee was surging, Mitt Romney led the polls in New Hampshire and Rudy Giuliani was exiting a hospital in Missouri where he fell ill – yet continued to lead the national GOP polls.
What effect would this story had on the race?
Remember how the New York Times buried their debunking of the Politico hit on Rudy Giuliani and security expenses for his then mistress, Judith Nathan? Yet, they refused to run this story which raises profound questions regarding McCain’s character and public conduct.
Of course, McCain now denies the charges in the piece. But, will there be more revelations?
If so, don’t count on McCain being the GOP nominee – just yet.
Vicki Iseman of Alcalde & Fay
Stay tuned…….
Update:
Team McCain strikes back with denials.
McCain calls New York Times piece a SMEAR.
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain issued a statement Wednesday night saying he “will not allow a smear campaign” to distract from his campaign as published reports questioned his relationship with a lobbyist.
The Washington Post quoted longtime aide John Weaver, who split with McCain last year, as saying he met with Vicki Iseman and urged her to stay away from McCain. The New York Times suggested an inappropriate relationship between the Arizona senator and Iseman, a Washington lobbyist. The New York Times quoted anonymous aides saying they had confronted McCain and Iseman, urging them to stay away from each other, before his failed presidential campaign in 2000.
How the story is being played by NBC:
13 Comments
Dennis
What is more interesting than the story itself is how the NYTimes has played it. It would appear that the paper chose to sit on the story to help McCain in the primaries and then bury him once he looks like the nominee.
As you point out, this also demonstrates the Times’ hypocrisy and attempt to manipulate the run for the presidency, including how the paper down played the real story on Rudy and the securtiy detail.
By the way, those asses at Politico.com have never commented on, let alone run a story on how and why security was used by Rudy and Judith. Their hit piece on Rudy ( including the timing of the article ) was a major cause for the failure of Rudy’s campaign. VERY SAD!!
Flap
Exactly correct and why the MSM and especially the New York Times are failing in the marketplace.
Voters are fed up……
Dennis
There is also more than a little irony about all of this. When Rudy was running, it was common to hear about his messy personal life when it came to Judith. You may know that McCain has the reputation in Wasington for having a roaming eye.
Of course it is mere coincidence that that this kind of story comes out at this time!!
Maybe I am still just pining away over the failure of Rudy’s campaign. He would have been a much more inspiring candidate than McCain in many ways.
Flap
You never heard about McCain’s disastrous personal life when Rudy was in the race.
I think I heard Hugh Hewitt say that the New York Times would pull the rug out from McCain once he received the nomination. How right he was.
But, the convention is many months away and the nomination is not McCain’s yet.
If more comes out he should withdraw and allow the convention decide the nominee. Rudy would be right in there.
An interesting scenario, what?
Lee Spencer
Don’t be rediculous. The article coughs up no facts. There is no evidence of wrongdoing.
Its source come from the very managers that McCain fired last summer. Gee, think there might be a motive in that one? huh? figured it out yet? the difference with rudy – in the article mccain takes a plane ride with the woman, but it includes an assistant – no problem. But Rudy drives for his affairs to his mistresses residence in a public vehicle on the public expense to do some serious adulterous boinking – a tad different, these stories. They take all these months and come up with no evidence? Gee, what a smokin’ affair!
Flap
There are facts in the New York Times piece about the “Maverick” and self-righteous McCain and the hypocritical problems he has had with lobbyists and his position on the Senate Commerce Commission.
The Rudy Giuliani allegation has been debunked here and your repeating the untrue story does not make it true.
McCain will be holding a news conference soon and let’s hear what he has to say for himself.
Had this story not been “SPIKED” in December my bet is he would not be the presumptive GOP nominee.
Babsy
To me it’s more of the incredibly astute left’s superbly well thought out ideology of ‘facts don’t matter’. Rush was right: To a lefty, the seriousness of the charge is far more important than the facts to back it up.
Flap
The question is whether this is a “tip of the iceberg” or just a chunk of ice. Some are speculating that there is more to the story.
ant
I feel that there is something or someone else involved. They issue the first article with no evidence and let him deny it. Then they come back with the evidence to make him look like a liar.
Dennis
Hey Lee Baby,
Get your facts straight. The security on Rudy was a decision made by the NYPD, not Rudy. Virtually all of the cost for the security for Rudy and Judith was paid for by Rudy’s office.
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