You know, they say politricians are the biggest freaks. History has proven this to be true to some degree. Thomas Jefferson was bangin' Sally Hemmings. JFK and his brother both got down with Marilyn Monroe. We all know about Slick Willie and his penchant for chubby Jewish chicks. So, these allegations by the New York Times about a possible extramarital snafu by Republican Democratic candidate John McCain aren't outside the realm of believability.
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.[Editor's Note: I'm 100% sure that everything I say after this point is going to sound judgmental. Let me be clear, I could care less what this man does in his private life. He ain't my Daddy. This issue at hand is, exactly what does how he handles his private life say about the character he'll employ while making decisions that affect millions in his public life. Nothing more, nothing less.]
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.
When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s client, 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.
Let's be real here, where there's smoke, there's usually fire. Unless Jayson Blair's been quietly rehired, New York Times would be idiots to throw this sort of allegation out there without having some substance behind it. With circulation lagging, and their reputation still being repaired, they have little reason to fabricate a story. Many have suggested this is a smear campaign to stop McCain's momentum. I don't entirely buy that for a couple of reasons. Namely because the Times endorsed McCain just a few months ago, although many suspect this was largely out of spite towards Rudy Giuliani. Then there's the not-so-small matter of timing. If they wanted to deep-six McCain, wouldn't they have played this card a month or so ago when the race was still competitive, or worse, in October when he's in the midst of the general election?
There's also the small fact that McCain's done this before. It's a well known, but seldom discussed fact that McCain hooked up with this current wife, Cindy, while having an affair that resulted in the dissolution of his first marriage of 23 years. So, hearing him and his wife, who's stolen somebody else's man before, talk all this riggamorow about how he'd "never do anything to harm our family" rings a little bit hollow.
And since we're talking about Cindy McCain, who else thought her botoxed, Stepford Wives looking ass was way out of pocket going at Michelle Obama the other day?
Campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday, Michelle Obama said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."Hmmmm, let's see: McCain is the heiress of a beer distributor who's never had to work for an honest paycheck her entire adult life and single handedly financed her husband's first Congressional campaign. (Oh yeah, and she once stole drugs from her own foundation, setting off a federal investigation.) Michelle Obama is an Ivy-League educated, self-made corporate success who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, sharing a bedroom with her brother, and watching a multiple sclerosis hindered father drag himself to work every morning to make ends meet.
In a rare move, Cindy McCain, wife of the Arizona senator, took on Michelle Obama's comment Tuesday as she introduced her husband at a rally. "I'm proud of my country, I don't know if you heard those words earlier. I'm very proud of my country," she said.
The Arizona senator also made a subtle dig at Michelle Obama's comments during his victory speech Tuesday night.
"I have never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I haven't been proud of the privilege" of being an American, McCain said in Columbus, Ohio.
I think it's fair to say they might have different views on how "proud" they are of this country.
Note to Cindy McCain: Stay in your lane, homegirl. You don't want none.
Oh, and for before i forget: Bill O'Reilly, just go ahead and kill yourself for that dumb assed "I Don't Want To Go On A Lynching Party Against Michelle Obama Unless There's Evidence" comment. Your career's been dead since Andrea Mackris-gate anyway. Falafel anyone?
Still, what pisses me off most is that the affair was the least incendiary item in the Times article. In a society obsessed with who's sleeping with who, it's predictable that the media would run that aspect of the story, but what about all the other really questionable stuff dropped in there?
Mr. McCain promised, for example, never to fly directly from Washington to Phoenix, his hometown, to avoid the impression of self-interest because he sponsored a law that opened the route nearly a decade ago. But like other lawmakers, he often flew on the corporate jets of business executives seeking his support, including the media moguls Rupert Murdoch, Michael R. Bloomberg and Lowell W. Paxson, Ms. Iseman’s client. (Last year he voted to end the practice.)Again, if you're concerned about character flaws, don't get tied up on the carnal stuff and miss the forest for the trees.
Mr. McCain helped found a nonprofit group to promote his personal battle for tighter campaign finance rules. But he later resigned as its chairman after news reports disclosed that the group was tapping the same kinds of unlimited corporate contributions he opposed, including those from companies seeking his favor. He has criticized the cozy ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, but is relying on corporate lobbyists to donate their time running his presidential race and recently hired a lobbyist to run his Senate office.
By 2002, he had succeeded in passing the McCain-Feingold Act, which transformed American politics by banning soft money, the unlimited donations from corporations, unions and the rich that were funneled through the two political parties to get around previous laws.
One of his efforts, though, seemed self-contradictory. In 2001, he helped found the nonprofit Reform Institute to promote his cause and, in the process, his career. It collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlimited donations from companies that lobbied the Senate commerce committee. Mr. McCain initially said he saw no problems with the financing, but he severed his ties to the institute in 2005, complaining of bad publicity after news reports of the arrangement.
Question: Do you care about a politician's extramarital bidness or does it make no difference? Are you concerned about some of the other ethical issues raised about McCain in this article?
For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk [NY Times]
McCain vs Obama...Cindy vs Michelle, That Is [ABCNews]
Bill O'Reilly: "I Don't Want To Go On A Lynching Party Against Michelle Obama Unless There's Evidence" [Huffington Post] (props to my girl C.T. for the link)
