That's A Pitch In The Dirt

I'm frankly stunned by this article about John McCain and a female lobbyist.

Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard 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.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.

First of all, this didn't come from a Democratic campaign. There's no chance that it did. It's way too early in the process. It's far more likely that this came from a Republican oppo research shop; not necessarily Huckabee or Romney's, but perhaps one of the American Conservative Union sleaze-meisters or any number or enemies he had on the right. Let's get that straight. The rumors were out there on this for a while, apparently, in fact McCain himself denied it in December.

The Internet right is going to rally around McCain now. This came from the New York Times, which is seen as the devil incarnate for conservatives. They're going to hit back and hit back hard. But there will be a residual effect out there. The story is now out there. It's out there among the social conservatives that already have questions about McCain. Rush will use this to unite folks around McCain.

And, it hits McCain at his strength. He's supposed to walk on water and have the highest integrity. Now these allegations are with a lobbyist. The lobbyist argued in front of McCain's committee. He flew all over the country on corporate jets of media moguls when he was on the Commerce Committee. This punctures the bubble of honor around McCain. This will have an impact.

I think McCain is still absolutely the nominee. Ultimately men with power use that power to get what they want and I think everyone's eyes are pretty wide open on that fact. What matters is how you govern and what policies you support. This doesn't change my opinion of McCain; it wasn't all that high to begin with. But it does have the potential of being an under-the-radar erosion of his support.

Because I couldn't fucking stand what the Republicans did to the Clintons in the 1990s, that's all I've got on this matter barring a major change in the story.

UPDATE: OK, just this. The story is actually about double-talk from McCain about his own work on campaign finance reform and Congressional ethics. I mean, McCain's campaign is run by a lobbyist, and so is his Senate office. This is a story that needs to be told. But most people won't get past the headline.