Fool Me Once, Shame On You, Fooled By McCain Twice? Shame On Us

After the story broke about Vicki Iseman and her relationship with John McCain, the Senator from Arizona and his minions went into attack mode (and they're good at it too). That is, attack the messenger mode. All of them decried the New York Times and that John McCain is a maverick and man of integrity. Damn, even his "blogger" daughter turned out an 'aww, shucks' piece about dear old Dad. The man who is seen as a maverick by many however, has a past that shows he isn't immune from deviating from the character he pretends to be.

From The Albany Project:

It seems John McCain has had his own Rudy Giuliani moments in the past.

In 2000, Nicholas Kristof wrote a profile piece on McCain described how his marriage to present wife Cindy came to form:

It was 1979, and it was becoming clear that he would never make admiral like his father and grandfather. He had always dreamed of doing something great, of imprinting his name on the history books, but at age 42 he found himself with a stuttering military career and no base from which to go into politics.

On top of that, his personal life was a mess: Although he was still living with his wife, he was aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich.

And as this far-right website puts it:

While still married to Carol, McCain began an adulterous relationship with Cindy. He married Cindy in May 1980 -- just a month after dumping Carol and securing a divorce. The newlyweds honeymooned in Hawaii.

This is all true. John McCain divorced his first wife Carol in April 1980. Then, a month later in May 1980, he marries current wife Cindy.

Hmmm. Could a guilty man be capable of sinning again?

Oh Man McCain!

Wow what a crazy night/morning it has been. McCain is under siege by the press, wondering what the hell McCain was up to with a lobbyist by the name of Vicki Iseman. Vicki was seen as a close 'buddy' by his advisers back in 2000 when he last ran for the Presidency. When they got scared of the implications that he might have been having an affair with a telecommunications lobbyist, they ran her off from their precious "Maverick." Oh this story is too bad for him, the press will be like rabid dogs, hunting for more and more of McCain's blood political future.

From The NY Times:

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.

It had been just a decade since an official favor for a friend with regulatory problems had nearly ended Mr. McCain’s political career by ensnaring him in the Keating Five scandal. In the years that followed, he reinvented himself as the scourge of special interests, a crusader for stricter ethics and campaign finance rules, a man of honor chastened by a brush with shame.

But the concerns about Mr. McCain’s relationship with Ms. Iseman underscored an enduring paradox of his post-Keating career. Even as he has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards, his confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potentially embarrassing conflicts of interest.

Oooh. Thats gotta hurt. Well McCain came out swinging and is dismissing the article as hogwash (without being able to completely deny the evidence). He's going to have a press conference later to do, but won't take any questions (bad idea). We'll see him deny away, but that only gives the signal to the press to keep hunting.....and hunt they will. Watching this mess unfold should be interesting, with only bad news for the Maverick on the horizon.