The New York Times is reporting that presumptive GOP nominee Senator John McCain, may have been a little too close to a much younger attractive female lobbyist. McCain denies it. The 32 year difference in their age prompts the same ick factor I got when Victoria Reggie married Ted Kennedy about 13 years ago.
On CNN last night, Bay Buchanan, Pat’s sister, reacted to the story by saying: “This is not the Democratic Party, this is a party of values. We assume our candidates have been loyal to their family.”
Really?
Like these guys?
I’d use the term “reporting” loosely, Dan. Not a single named source, and McCain denies it.
Its a page 1 story. And of course McCain denies it. And I remember Bill Clinton initially denied his affair with Monica Lewinsky and unnamed sources didn’t stop the GOP propagandists from running with the story.
And while the Times didn’t name anyone, the Washington Post did:
“Aides to Sen. John McCain confronted a telecommunications lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, according to one of McCain’s longest-serving political strategists.
John Weaver, who was McCain’s closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last year, said he met with Vicki Iseman at the Center Cafe at Union Station and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded.
Members of the senator’s small circle of advisers also confronted McCain directly, according to sources, warning him that his continued ties to a lobbyist who had business before the powerful commerce committee he chaired threatened to derail his presidential ambitions.”
I will try to refrain from making jokes about “lobbyists” and “pork”
What struck me about the article was not the speculation of of an affair or innappropriate flirtation, but McCain’s willingness to get schmoozy with lobbyists and his willingness to run interference for moneyed friends – all while he is supposedly working to reduce corporate and big money influence on the electoral process.
Its a page 1 story.
Which in and of itself proves nothing. “Dewey Defeats Truman” was a page 1 story.
Besides that, you’re just wrong. Not a single named source said John McCain had a an affair with the lobbyist.
But it’s amusing to watch the “Clinton only lied about sex” crowd get themselves worked up over this.
Matt/Jubal,
Your the “Clinton only lied about sex†crowd seems to imply some democrat conspiracy to give this story some life.
But isn’t John Weaver a pretty solid Republican? Wouldn’t the McCain “inner circle” advisors all be Republican? I wonder who is really fueling these salatious stories, the “Clinton only lied about sex†crowd or the “he’s not really a conservative candidate” Republicans?
“Besides that, you’re just wrong. Not a single named source said John McCain had a an affair with the lobbyist.”
I didn’t say “affair” but look at all the favors he did for her and her clients. What’s the quid pro quo here.
Just…asking:
You injected conspiracy. I didn’t, nor did I imply one.
As for John Weaver: I’m sorry, I missed the part where the Post quoted Weaver telling Ms. Iseman to stop sleeping with McCain? Perhaps you and Dan can point that where Weaver confirms an affair.
Oh wait — you can’t, because he didn’t.
I didn’t say “affair†but look at all the favors he did for her and her clients. What’s the quid pro quo here.
Careful there, Dan. I don’t want you to fall over from back-pedaling from your original post.
But isn’t John Weaver a pretty solid Republican?
He consulted for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2002ish/2003ish, and consultant for Wesley Clark for President in 2004.
You tell me.
Matt —
Below, you will find the original Drudge Report posts on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
I challenge you to find a single named source in these stories:
Web Posted: 01/17/98 21:32:02 PST — NEWSWEEK KILLS STORY ON WHITE HOUSE INTERN X X X X X BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: 23-YEAR OLD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT
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Web Posted: 01/17/98 23:32:47 PST — NEWSWEEK KILLS STORY ON WHITE HOUSE INTERN
BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: 23-YEAR OLD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
At the last minute, at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, NEWSWEEK magazine killed a story that was destined to shake official Washington to its foundation: A White House intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the United States!
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that reporter Michael Isikoff developed the story of his career, only to have it spiked by top NEWSWEEK suits hours before publication. A young woman, 23, sexually involved with the love of her life, the President of the United States, since she was a 21-year-old intern at the White House. She was a frequent visitor to a small study just off the Oval Office where she claims to have indulged the president’s sexual preference. Reports of the relationship spread in White House quarters and she was moved to a job at the Pentagon, where she worked until last month.
The young intern wrote long love letters to President Clinton, which she delivered through a delivery service. She was a frequent visitor at the White House after midnight, where she checked in the WAVE logs as visiting a secretary named Betty Curry, 57.
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that tapes of intimate phone conversations exist.
The relationship between the president and the young woman become strained when the president believed that the young woman was bragging about the affair to others.
NEWSWEEK and Isikoff were planning to name the woman. Word of the story’s impeding release caused blind chaos in media circles; TIME magazine spent Saturday scrambling for its own version of the story, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. The NEW YORK POST on Sunday was set to front the young intern’s affair, but was forced to fall back on the dated ABC NEWS Kathleen Willey break.
The story was set to break just hours after President Clinton testified in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
Ironically, several years ago, it was Isikoff that found himself in a shouting match with editors who were refusing to publish even a portion of his meticulously researched investigative report that was to break Paula Jones. Isikoff worked for the WASHINGTON POST at the time, and left shortly after the incident to build them for the paper’s sister magazine, NEWSWEEK.
Michael Isikoff was not available for comment late Saturday. NEWSWEEK was on voice mail.
The White House was busy checking the DRUDGE REPORT for details.
——————————————————————————–
Web Posted: 01/18/98 22:33:48 PST — FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN CALLED; NEW BACKGROUND DETAILS EMERGE
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, 23, has been subpoenaed to give a deposition in the Paula Jones case.
About the young woman, this is known:
WORK EXPERIENCE
*Summer of 1995 Intern, Office of Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, The White House.
*November 1995 Staff assistant, Office of Legislative Affairs, The White House. “Wrote drafts and correspondence for Staff Secretary’s approval and ultimately the President’s signature. Processed and vetted all incoming mail to the President from Congress.”
*April 1996 Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, The Pentagon.
EDUCATION
May 95 Lewis and Clark College. Major: Psychology.
MISC.
Holds current TS-SCI clearance, allowing access to top secret and sensitive information. Proficient in Macintosh for Microsoft Word 6.0, WordPerfect for Windows, and Infosys.
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Web Posted: 01/19/98 14:54:06 PST — FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN DENIES SEX WITH PRESIDENT IN SWORN AFFIDAVIT
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, 23, has denied having any “sexual relationship with President Clinton” in a sworn affidavit, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Lewinsky’s sworn written statement was executed last week after she was served with a subpoena in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
NBC was busy developing a story Tuesday afternoon on Lewinsky. Through a suspected leak, the network obtained a copy of Lewinsky’s affidavit and was reading portions of it to sources to provoke comment.
———
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Web Posted: 01/20/98 18:07:47 PST — TONIGHT ON THE DRUDGE REPORT: CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND TAPES OF FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, AS STARR MOVES IN! …
——————————————————————————–
Web Posted: 01/20/98 19:57:07 PST — CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND TAPES OF FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, AS STARR MOVES IN!
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
Federal investigators are now in possession of intimate taped conversations of a former White House intern, age 23, discussing details of her alleged sexual relationship with President Clinton, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
The tapes were made by a federal employee who has been granted immunity. MORE
According to sources in and out of government, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr became involved in the situation when he received intelligence that senior administration officials may have offered federal jobs to a young woman in an effort to prevent stories from going public — stories involving sexual episodes that allegedly occurred in a room off the Oval Office.
“Starr is not on the bimbo beat,” one source close to the situation told the DRUDGE REPORT late Tuesday. “He’s looking at a potential for obstruction of justice charges.”
A breakfast meeting that took place at The Watergate Hotel has attracted the attention of investigators.
The development has completely consumed high-level Washington, with Starr’s investigators working past midnight in recent days.
Developing…
Matt —
No backpeddling required, but I’m guess a little wordplay doesn’t exactly work with literalists like you.
Let me be more direct: the story effectively ressurects the Keating 5 controversy and McCain’s love of Lobbyists for deregulation; Orange County connections if I recall. Deregulation worked out so well for the S&L industry; how much did that cost taxpayers again?
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2007/12/20/20071220_155408_flashnyt.htm
I think it is highly possible the information came not from the Democrats but from within the GOP. It is still early enough in the process to throw his campaign off the tracks and find a suitable White Knight (not David Duke, but a different kind of White Knight).
MEDIA FIREWORKS: MCCAIN PLEADS WITH NY TIMES TO SPIKE STORY
Thu Dec 20 2007 10:49:27 ET
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.
It’s not like this story should’ve been any shock to McCain.
McCain isn’t part of the “holier than though” club that makes up a good part of the GOP. If he cheated on his wife, so what. He isn’t one of those do gooder religious righties that bash Clinton or hate gays and then have affairs and meth parties with gay hookers.
I’m not gonna beat the guy up over this. Its not like he is one of those Catholic officials who wants to keep pro-choice politicians from receiving communion, but are okay with pedophiles giving communion.
Lets focus on the issues rather than the guys private life. Leave the witch hunts to the Republicans.
Dan:
Drudge’s first report on Monica Lewinsky? That’s your defense?
That means what, exactly: that because that report lack a named source and the story turned out to be true, ipso facto McCain had an affair with this lobbyist?
Oh yeah. That’ s perfectly logical.
Jubal,
Are you going to tell us with a straight face that conservatives didn’t accept an unsourced story on the Drudge Report about Clinton as true?
McCain is only having the same standard of proof applied to him.
I really don’t care where he’s hiding his salami. I’m more concerned about his willingness to stay in Iraq for a 100 years. That is far more important than his personal ethics failings. While conservatives were staring at Clinton’s crotch, I was making double digit returns on my stock portfolio while watching the federal deficit shrink. Neither of which has happened under Bush’s administration. I’m at a point in time where I don’t expect politicians to be faithful. I’m more concerned with how they manage the federal government than whether or not they are toe tapping in an airport bathroom.
No backpeddling required, but I’m guess a little wordplay doesn’t exactly work with literalists like you.
“Wordplay”? Oh, come on. You made your meaning very clear. Calling me a literalist doesn’t change that your post was about alleging a McCain affair.
Are you going to tell us with a straight face that conservatives didn’t accept an unsourced story on the Drudge Report about Clinton as true?
Am I now spokesmen for how all conservatives reacted in Jan. 1998?
As best I can remember, my initial reaction was “he couldn’t be that stupid.”
The standard of proof ought to be proof, don’t you think?
I didn’t say ALL conservatives. I said conservatives. I remember the reaction of OC conservatives quite well. Unlike the Carona supporters, there were no cries of innocent till proven guilty.
You can deny it all you want. It really doesn’t matter.
Matt —
I never used the word affair either. And from the story, he was close to this lobbyiust and she is in fact a young woman. Fact, Fact, Fact.
The link to GOP sex scandals (and they left some out..the list was too long) was a response to Bay Buchanan, bnot McCain.
“In bed” with a lobbyist is a play on words about how often JohnnyMac loves to work with lobbyists. And, this case allows us all to revisit the Keating 5 case and McCain’s work to deregulate S&Ls which taxpayers had to bail out.
When Drudge’s story about Clinton broke, we had a story with unnamed sources and denials from Clinton and Lewinsky. Exaclty the same thing as the McCain story today. And sure, the Clinton Lewinsky affair did turn out to be true. Maybe we’ll discover that McCain slept with this woman; we don’t know. Maybe he wanted to. Maybe he should just stand up and say, “Yep, I was a 60-something stud.!”
His aides certainly thought the relationship was headed in that direction. As far as I’m concerned, whatever happened is for Mr. and the second Mrs. McCain to work out.
Matt/Jubal,
I never said anything about an affair in my comment! I would not make such a claim without substantiated reports or knowledge of this occuring.
I don’t care who McCain sleeps with! That is a personal matter between him and his significant others. As long as he does not try to impose his values or morals upon me or make fidelety a campaign issue!
And it was your statement that the “Clinton only lied about sex†crowd , which implies a group is acting in concert or conspiracy, hence my comment of such.
My real question was whether these reports were placed by dems or reep’s? I don’t think the dems fear a McCain battle in November. On the other hand, McCain stirs a lot of rancour with reep’s across the country. I might be wrong but reep’s seem to have the most to loose with McCain as your standard bearer.
I never said anything about an affair in my comment!
Just…asking:
You know what? You’re right. You didn’t. My apologies.