NYT vs. John McCain

The New York Times ran a controversial front-page story, detailing John McCain's relationships with lobbyists despite his efforts to portray himself an ethics reformer.

A summary of The Times' accusations follows:

• McCain, 71, has had an 8-year "friendship" with Vicki Iseman, a 40-year-old lobbyist for whom he has done political favors. The Times suggests that the relationship is suspiciously close and potentially romantic despite lack of evidence. He's already in hot water with the religious right for his first divorce!
• The article re-hashed his embarrassing involvement in the Keating Five scandal, where he, as an Arizona congressman, advocated for looser regulations on banking firms, which directly helped his friend and campaign contributor, financier Charles Keaton. The looser regulations also led to a huge savings and loan crisis, which cost taxpayers $3.4 million. McCain has since publicly apologized for his corrupt role, writing in his 2002 memoir:

"I would very much like to think that I have never been a man whose
favor can be bought..Yet that is exactly how millions of Americans viewed me for a time, a time that I will forever consider one of the worst experiences of my life."

• McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis is a lobbyist who has lobbied before McCain in Congress. Davis is working free-of-pay.
• McCain recently hired another lobbyist, Mark Buse, to run his Senate office.
• McCain separated himself from a non-profit group that promotes tighter campaign finance because of the group's corrupt financial ties to the big corporations it was trying to combat. McCain helped found the hypocritical group, which underscores the hypocrisy of his ethics-reformer image.
  

The McCain Campaign released a SCATHING response, calling the article a "hit-and-run smear campaign...that distract[s] from the issues at stake in this election."

hmm...I thought that ethics reform WAS an issue at stake in the election. Although I don't think that The Times should have stirred up allegations about an affair with Iseman. That's way too Monica Lewinsky-esque for me.