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Will "bombshell" hurt McCain, or the New York Times?
Tomorrow's (Philadelphia Daily) News today -- replacing my earlier post on the topic, wiith a new headline as well:
A bombshell report in this morning’s New York Times about all-but-certain GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his past ties to a younger attractive female lobbyist may resolve one thing:
How much has American politics changed since Gary Hart and his “Monkey Business” two decades ago?
Both the 71-year-old McCain — the Arizona senator with an insurmountable Republican delegate lead — and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, now 40, deny there was any romance when the two were reportedly seen together frequently in the late 1990s.
But the Times reports unnamed staffers were convinced that a friendship between the senator and the lobbyist for a cable TV giant might undermine McCain’s earlier 2000 bid for the White House. The paper says aides warned the two to stay away from each other after they were spotted at events and even on her client’s corporate jet.
The article states:
How will it play out? The public seems a lot more immune to this type of story than a generation ago, and a similar type of article about John Kerry in 2004 petered out quickly. Indeed, The New York Times may take more heat for publishing the expose than McCain gets for his past actions
SHould be interesting to see how this plays out, curious to see what his definition of "Is" is

A bombshell report in this morning’s New York Times about all-but-certain GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his past ties to a younger attractive female lobbyist may resolve one thing:
How much has American politics changed since Gary Hart and his “Monkey Business” two decades ago?
Both the 71-year-old McCain — the Arizona senator with an insurmountable Republican delegate lead — and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, now 40, deny there was any romance when the two were reportedly seen together frequently in the late 1990s.
But the Times reports unnamed staffers were convinced that a friendship between the senator and the lobbyist for a cable TV giant might undermine McCain’s earlier 2000 bid for the White House. The paper says aides warned the two to stay away from each other after they were spotted at events and even on her client’s corporate jet.
The article states:
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.
The new info is a part of a much-longer article about the ethics of McCain, and how he has maintained close ties with lobbyists even after making campaign ethics a top issue. The senator aggressively tried to prevent its publication, calling Times executive editor Bill Keller and saying, according to the piece: “I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that.”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.
How will it play out? The public seems a lot more immune to this type of story than a generation ago, and a similar type of article about John Kerry in 2004 petered out quickly. Indeed, The New York Times may take more heat for publishing the expose than McCain gets for his past actions
SHould be interesting to see how this plays out, curious to see what his definition of "Is" is