John McCain and Lobbyists: Not Exactly "News"

"I've never done any favors for anybody -- lobbyist or special interest group -- that's a clear, 24-year record."

--Senator John McCain's statement yesterday, responding to reports that he'd done favors for a lobbyist, then attempted to have a story reporting it quashed.


"I did so for no other reason than I valued [Keating's] support. ... Had I weighed the question of honor it occasioned and the public interest more than my personal interest to render a small service to an important supporter, I would not have attended the meeting. ... I lacked humility and an inspiration to some purpose higher than self-interest."

BREAKING: February 20, 2008 John McCain: New Female Lobbyist Scandal The New York Times--who remained deaf, dumb and blind during the John Edwards, and more recently, the Larry Sinclair-Barack Obama allegations--have found some unnamed sources they finally can report on. It appears they have to do with Senator John McCain and what we reported on in this story in December.

--Senator John McCain statement from his book, Hard Call, published this fall, on favors he'd done for another lobbyist. That story wasn't quashed when the savings and loan debacle swept over the USA.

Reason's Matt Welch provides, succinctly, what we stated yesterday: news that Senator John McCain likes his lobbyists compliant and flush, isn't exactly news.

What was new yesterday was the story that the Senator and his campaign tried to put the squeeze on the New York Times to kill a story on McCain's latest lobbyist relationship. As Welch states,

And though it has gone down the collective rabbit hole of political memory, eight years ago McCain was busy fending off accusations that he intervened with regulators on behalf of major campaign contributors Paxson Communications and Ameritech.

The story of McCain and his dealings with lobbyists is nothing new.

By now, the Senator and his campaign team should have lots of practice over the years in how to deal with type of story. The first step is to always demean the bearer of the news.

Yesterday, McCain's paid spokeman, Bob Bennett, swung into action on the Senator's behalf.

The Arizona Republican has hired a prominent Washington criminal attorney, Robert Bennett, to deal with the matter. "What is being done to John McCain is an outrage," Bennett said in an interview.

Yesterday, that bearer was Drudge Report.

That McCain had plenty of help in the media wasn't a surprise, either.

The Main Stream Media's quickness to attack the Drudge Report is nothing new.

McCain has long been the press corp's favorite "maverick".

We'd say more on the above topics.

But this morning, we're trying to be succinct.

by Mondoreb
image:drudge]
Source: Depends on Your Definition of 'Never'
McCain Says Allegations He Did Favors for Lobbyist are Untrue



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.