Vicki Iseman, 40. Hubba-hubba.
John with “the wife.” These kind of blondes are his type, apparently.
New York Times
A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.
“Protect the candidate from himself.” Oh, I love that.
Say what you will about the Times, they had this story hanging fire since December:
Drudge Report 12/20/07
Just weeks away from a possible surprise victory in the primaries, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz has been waging a ferocious behind the scenes battle with the NEW YORK TIMES, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, and has hired DC power lawyer Bob Bennett to mount a bold defense against charges of giving special treatment to a lobbyist!
McCain has personally pleaded with NY TIMES editor Bill Keller not to publish the high-impact report involving key telecom legislation before the Senate Commerce Committee, newsroom insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT.
The paper’s Jim Rutenberg has been leading the investigation and is described as beyond frustrated with McCain’s aggressive and angry efforts to stop any and all publication.
The drama involves a woman lobbyist who may have helped to write key telecom legislation.
The woman in question has retained counsel and strongly denies receiving any special treatment from McCain.
Rutenberg, along with reporter David Kirkpatrick, has been developing the story for the last 6 weeks.
Rutenberg had hoped to break the story before the Christmas holiday, sources reveal, but editor Keller expressed serious reservations about journalism ethics and issuing a damaging story so close to an election.
So. Why now?
I think Cenk Uygur in Huffpo has it right:
Since they endorsed McCain in January despite knowing this story — and the clear implications of hypocrisy on campaign finance reform, let alone the other implications — the most likely conspiracy would be that they favor McCain in the election. But I don’t think there is a conspiracy.
I think the far simpler answer is the correct one. The McCain campaign threatened and intimidated them as the Bush team has done on countless occasions and they gave in until someone else was about to release the story. The only thing worse than being bullied by Republicans is getting scooped by your competitors.
The story here isn’t that the NYT is trying to hurt conservatives, it’s the exact opposite — they’re afraid of them. On every occasion that they have had a major story like this, they have held it after being badgered by Republicans. They only print the stories when there are no other options left and the story is about to get printed elsewhere anyway.
I like this comment from one of the HuffPo readers and I think it adds some background:
rjcrane (See profile | I’m a fan of rjcrane)
What’s even worse is that this NYT story completely omitted the circumstances surrounding McCain’s divorce from his first wife, Carol. There’s was a real connection to be made and they didn’t do it. Here’s what they didn’t tell you: When McCain returned home from Vietnam he came home to a wife who had been disfigured in a terrible accident but a wife who was willing to stick by a seriously damaged and beat up husband. But instead of supporting his wife, McCain started cheating on her and was cheating on her when he met Cindy at a party. He and Cindy were involved in an affair when shortly thereafter McCain decided to file for divorce. And yes, Cindy was much younger than John at the time and came from a very wealthy family that could advance his current political ambitions.
Doesn’t anyone else besides me notice the obvious physical similarities between Cindy and Vicki and that both are much younger than John McCain? I don’t think this is just a weird coincidence either. Men like McCain don’t change their spots.
So I will pose this question. If the same type of behavior toward their wives wasn’t tolerated by the media for all of these male politicians: Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Guiiani, why is the media willing to overlook the same for John McCain? Because he’s suppose to be a war hero?
What troubles me more is that McCain’s POW status appears to have covered him in a media-proof jacket.
RJ Crane, topplebush.com
Mr. Crane has it nailed. McCain gets a pass for doing what rich white guys have been doing since there have been rich white guys because he’s a ‘war hero’ and a rich white guy who is a conservative.
This is what guys like McCain do and pretty much everyone expects it.
Today all over conservative hate radio, you can bet that the attacks are coming against the ‘liberal’ New York Times rather than on the shaky so-called ‘character’ of John McCain. You were expecting honesty from the right?
Please.
The Times is both a convenient whipping boy for the right and a joke as a newspaper that advertises ‘all the news that’s fit to print.’ Of course, this is not the truth. The sad thing is that the Times has some of the best reporters you’ll find anywhere but their editorial management, like most all over the country, dances to political considerations, not to the best interests of the publics’ right to know.
So McCain beds some lobbyist 31 years his junior (imagine being 45 and dating an eighth grader) and the clients she represents, like Paxson Communications, get special treatment from McCain. This, of course, is also McCain cheating on his trophy wife. I mean, how many of these kind of women does a man like McCain need to feel like a ‘man?’
The man is a rat bastard. But then again, whaddya expect? And yeah, Bill Clinton was a rat bastard too.
Again, are we in higher dudgeon over the sex or the influence peddling, or, possibly that McCain is such a Bill Clinton when it comes to indiscretion? Would McCain pull a General Buck Turgidson, getting calls from his bimbo while in the War Room plotting a nuclear strike?
I can almost imagine it which is kind of scary.
Is there more to this story? Probably. The whole story was full of half ass innuendo and lawyered up language anyway. Does it matter? Probably not. Sadly, most Americans have given up the notion of lawmakers putting public service first anyway as they have given up on honest journalism.
And most men of McCain’s class probably envy him for the action anyway.
If anything, Barack Obama can hold Michelle a little closer and play the honest family man, but other than that, it does little for him. It does nothing for Clinton for reasons which should be obvious.
But it just gives people in the media something to talk about.
