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Go Home The Mccain Story

THE PLANK FEBRUARY 20, 2008

The Mccain Story

BY ISAAC CHOTINER

In a piece that reads as if a lot of stuff was edited out, these grafs are particularly important:

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.

“Our political messaging during that time period centered around
taking on the special interests and placing the nation’s interests
before either personal or special interest,” Mr. Weaver continued. “Ms.
Iseman’s involvement in the campaign, it was felt by us, could
undermine that effort.”

Weaver going on the record to say this may be the most interesting part of the story. The second graf, at first glance, appears to be a typical hedge from a political operative, but when read closely it seems very, very damaging.

--Isaac Chotiner 

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15 comments

Yay! bimbo eruptions!

- virginiacentrist

February 20, 2008 at 9:32pm

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www.Intrade.com won't load. It may just be down, but I'm holding out hope that folks in the know are unloading their McCain stock and that caused the site to crash.

- virginiacentrist

February 20, 2008 at 9:37pm

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So, is it true TNR was about to release a story about why the NY Times sat on this back in December?

- primwallflow

February 20, 2008 at 9:37pm

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I wonder if Ron Rosenbaum's October blog post about a big sex story the LA Times was sitting on is at all related?

pajamasmedia.com/.../shocking_inside_dc_scandal_rum.php

- bhunziker

February 20, 2008 at 9:46pm

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Intrade loads for me. No change in McCain's contract (yet).

- huntlib

February 20, 2008 at 9:51pm

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I wonder where the story came from. Did this originate with NYTimes reporting or with a tip from a rival campaign or political opponent? Because if this originates from an opponent, then it was very badly played. You leak this kind of story to the Nat'l Enquirer. They can run with the full innuendo, which gets the rumor into print, and then the respectable media feels obliged to report about the allegations as allegations. Leak it to an outlet like the Times, and they're going to report the story and print only what they can substantiate. Your average junior-high student-council campaign manager understands that.

So did a Times reporter happen to hear something the McCain team would rather not have been overheard, or see a document, or what?

- rhubarbs

February 20, 2008 at 10:08pm

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Primwallflow:

Actually, I heard that CBS was holding back a story about TNR holding back a story about the NYTimes story. But I got that from ABC, and they're holding back a few details. I'll get back to you.

- virginiacentrist

February 20, 2008 at 10:11pm

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The undernews:

If the Clinton folks think this is a real story...won't they try that much harder to get the nomination (since they'll believe it's in the bagg)?

- virginiacentrist

February 20, 2008 at 10:22pm

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VAcentrist, why, do you think there's something they could be doing to get the nomination that they've decided not to do because they don't want it badly enough?

- perkowitz

February 20, 2008 at 10:34pm

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I'll admit I can't see a whole lot here that's really going to count as a "bimbo eruption" in any way to harm McCain.  But that response by the McCain campaign..." there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”  Are you freakin' kidding me?  The story is chock full of stuff about the Keating Five scandal and McCain's stoopid behavior therein.  This is how McCain conducts himself according to his principles?  

Nail that (insert expletive of choice here) to the wall, Barack.

- cspencef

February 20, 2008 at 10:54pm

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I think this article is very damaging.  It raises numerous issues with regard to the influence of lobbyists in the creation of policy, one of McCain's cardinal issues.  The added intrigue of a possible romantic relationship with the lobbyist is icing on a multi-layer cake.  

Combine this with the torture cave-in, the Falwell university appearance, and the flip on the Bush tax cuts, and any chance I would ever vote for McCain is DOA.

- drdannyu

February 20, 2008 at 11:33pm

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primwallflow, virginaicentrist -

I'm not editing at the magazine anymore (you might have noticed how much better it reads lately), so it's possible I've missed some development. But to the best of my knowledge Gabe Sherman's TNR piece on the Times story was set to close tomorrow with the rest of the issue and was in no way "held." As for whether its imminent appearance played a role in the Times's decision to publish, I can claim no knowledge. But the timing is suggestive.

- Chris Orr

February 20, 2008 at 11:54pm

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I completely did not see the sex angle in this. Maybe because I can not imagine a mummy having sex.

The two connections that stood out for me were these

1. slap in the face to Mrs. McCain for the comments on how proud she has always been about everything that has ever happened in this country and always will be. Ouch.

2. I did not know that McCain was one of the Keating 5. Guess lots of other people did not either. The piece more or less deflates any debate that could be had with Obama on

 a. rezko

 b. managing the finances for the country.

Clearly by self admission, McCain lacks finance (well, what are you supposed to say here, expertise? no, not even close) experience that would be of any use in running the entire country?

and this

3. It's not easy to teach an old dog new tricks and as pointed out in some comments posted on the NYT site, if you were expecting Obama to make some immediate headway in ending influence peddling in your govt, think again.

I am still voting for Obama, thanks to the NYT for sending out the reality check.

- 2736298

February 21, 2008 at 2:49am

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Isaac thinks John Weaver's quote is the most damaging part of the NYT 's McCain story. Jamie

- Anonymous

February 21, 2008 at 10:12am

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I don't see how this story is terribly damaging. I like John McCain.  I don't want a messiah; I want a solid leader.  I understand he'll have some flaws.  What makes him attractive is that he owns up to his flaws and learns from them.  Isn't that what we want after the past eight years?  

This story rehashes stuff we already knew - about McCain getting into a bad situation, about McCain getting out of it feeling horrified, and about McCain becoming a foe of political pork, lobbyists, and the corrupting influence of money in politics.  The only really new part is the suggestion that he had an affair with a forty-year-old woman, which, all in all, is pretty damned cool. :)

And it even sounds like he didn't have an affair.  It sounds like some lobbyist was claiming to have special access with McCain, so his campaign told her to shut it.  I've been in a similar situation where I was in a position of some authority and people were using my name in vain.  I had to tell them to knock it off because they were corrupting perceptions of me.  

This ain't news.  I'm not sure it's news even if McCain was banging the woman.  

- phargle

February 21, 2008 at 12:30pm

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