A Hole in McCain’s Defense? An apparent contradiction in his response to lobbyist story

[underpants]

Source: Newsweek

A sworn deposition that Sen. John McCain gave in a lawsuit more than five years ago appears to contradict one part of a sweeping denial that his campaign issued this week to rebut a New York Times story about his ties to a Washington lobbyist.

But that flat claim seems to be contradicted by an impeccable source: McCain himself. "I was contacted by Mr. Paxson on this issue," McCain said in the September 25, 2002 deposition obtained by Newsweek. "He wanted their approval very bad for purposes of his business. I believe that Mr. Paxson had a legitimate complaint."

McCain's subsequent letters to the FCC--coming around the same time that Paxson's firm was flying the senator to campaign events aboard its corporate jet and contributing $20,000 to his campaign--first surfaced as an issue during his unsuccessful 2000 presidential bid. William Kennard, the FCC chair at the time, described the sharply worded letters from McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, as "highly unusual."

But it does include a lengthy discussion of his dealings with the company that hired her, including some statements by the senator that could raise additional questions for his campaign.



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/id/114505/page/1

---

I will post the deposition questions in GD (as per LBN 4 paragraph rule)

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. You are part of the problem. Drop this canard because it only helps

the opposition.

[underpants]

3. No it doesn't

First off all it is a fact that McCain has a long history of being in lobbyists back pockets

Secondly stop worrying about what THEY think or what THEY are doing

Lastly linking McCain to lobbyists to corruption does not help him with the general public or are you completely unaware of the 2006 election?

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TwilightGardener]

8. What? That's crazy. The GOP might be spinning it right now, but this

ultimately will hurt McCain, and well it should--it attacks him right where he built his campaign--his honor and ethics. Nobody on DU can make a difference anyway. Weird.

[Fredda Weinberg]

9. Nobody on DU can make a difference? Au contraire ... but the NYT

affair was totally engineered ... one DUer caught it right away ... we're being punked.

Of course the GOP is vulnerable - but exposing our hand is exactly what they need right now.

[TwilightGardener]

10. I think it will injure him--the doubts have been raised, and once that happens, the

trust begins to erode, the shine goes off the halo. The GOP was going to rally around behind him no matter what--this story speeds it along a little, but it's not a cure--it's a disease that will cause him to lose. Why worry about keeping this alive? We SHOULD keep it alive--it's a huge story that has potential big consequences, none of it good for the GOP in November.

[Fredda Weinberg]

11. It innoculated him. There he was, standing next to his wife ... you didn't

see the puppet masters? No, there was no damage and we should go back to work quietly until we have real ammo.

[Virginia Dare]

14. Why should we do that when the opposition never does?

what ammo did the swiftboaters have? None. Innuendo is a very powerful force in negative politics and it works. That's been proven over and over again. If we slink away from this, that would be weak.

[TwilightGardener]

17. Yeah, the RW will be fair to us, they'll only use "REAL ammo" as opposed

to every weapon (real and make-believe) in their arsenal. Please. I don't think Obama should touch it personally, but there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with surrogates in our party pointing out the ramifications of the story and making sure it damages the old horny fossil. It's not the sexytime. It's the LOBBYIST problem--that's what McCain has built his campaign on: taking on special interests. We'd be FOOLS not to use this, no matter how the GOP tries to downplay it.

[Fredda Weinberg]

19. Then let the fake story pass ... everything legit is getting caught up

as intended.

[TwilightGardener]

20. It's not a fake story. The NYT is not a trial lawyer--they don't have

to prove anything in court beyond a shadow of a doubt, they only have to put out what McCain's aides are telling them, and they corroborated some of it with a named source---John Weaver. It may not be a fireproof story, but there's some smoke there.

[Fredda Weinberg]

24. You're looking when the magician wants you to look. The story was a plant

and if you read it carefully, there's no smoke.

[Virginia Dare]

23. How are you getting that this is a fake story?

they've got a former staffer on the record. He's got a young pretty lobbyist running all over Washington shooting her mouth off about how much "access" she's got to McCain. His staff gets worried enough to tell her to get lost. Lots of people must have heard her saying this. Grampa Johnny's got a big problem.

[Fredda Weinberg]

25. No, you're giving up a problem. This is a canard, floated to innoculate

McCain. How do I get it? Because it's been shopped around to several sources and a quiet campaign has been going on in press circles to get this out. That's how.

[Virginia Dare]

28. It probably wasn't because of McCain that they were afraid to use it..

it was because it involved trading favors to big telecom companies and getting the Telecom Act of 1996 passed. I would imagine more than a few media outlets would be afraid of the blow-back regarding this.

[Virginia Dare]

15. Agreed weinerdoggie..

I see nothing wrong with keeping him back on his heels over this. He's built his reputation on a fantasy.

[Virginia Dare]

13. So what if it was? If this was supposed to be kool-aid..

for the stupid freeper masses, then it's our job to poison it. If we get punked on this, it's because we tucked our tails in and ran like frightened little puppies. The longer this story stays alive, is parsed, examined, questioned then the worse it is for McCain.

Grampa Johnny is lieing about his ties with lobbyists, and he's just been caught out. Does any rational thinking person out there, no matter how much they deny it, think that a 62 year old wealthy powerful politician innocently seeks out the company of a 30 year old attractive blond, or vice versa because of "friendship"?

At the very least, this serves to raise doubts about him in many people's minds.

[Fredda Weinberg]

18. It has had the opposite effect - as intended. n/t

[Virginia Dare]

22. I don't see that at all, sorry.....n/t

[badgervan]

40. No It Hasn't....

... Independent voters, whom we need badly, will now have something more to consider, that nagging feeling that McCain is a hypocrite, before pulling that lever for St. John of the Adoring Media.

[underpants]

26. McCain.... Lobbyist

within 7 words. Perfect.

That is what people will take out of this story.

[underpants]

29. How utterly condescending of you

[Fredda Weinberg]

31. With a moniker like underpants, you lack a sense of humor about yourself? n/t

[underpants]

35. I have a great sense of humor about myself

I don't try to simply minimize someone else as a argument point and I would never lead with it.

[Fredda Weinberg]

36. So, you don't want to see that you were distracted by the veronica?

I did it as gently as possible, but you're still blind. I'm not your problem ... the capacity to be misled so easily with a sexy story is.

[underpants]

37. I have posted on this story several times and never mentioned the sex part

becasue frankly it was only hinted at and never stated. All of the discussion still today focuses on his history of close ties to lobbyists.

SO I am bland and small brained ! Coming from you that can only be a good thing.

[Fredda Weinberg]

39. Oh dear ... you didn't get this at all, did you ... when you do, you'll

laugh.

The small brain was the one downstairs, darling - activated by the detail that should never have made it the NYT story - what's given it "legs" (yes, I know the sexism in the industry - damn, for a brief time, I worked in it).

Bland? No, I've seen you around for years and honestly, thought you had better sense than the Joe Scarborough crotch sniffers who've made him a minor star. If you can't learn from debacles like that, again, I'm not your problem.

[underpants]

38. BTW

From My DU page

No it doesn't <0 Replies>

which is very apt from what I can tell

[Occulus]

30. Alerted

I'm getting tired of your repeated, unapologetic abuse of others on this forum.

[Fredda Weinberg]

32. You feel abused? That's telling

You realize of course, that I'm laughing at you now.

[lligrd]

5. How Does This Help The Opposition?

McCains ties to lobbyist and his hypocrisy are valid and important issues. I thank the OP for the information.

[jasmine621]

12. We had better hoep it DOESN'T hurt McCain. McCain cannot win

in the GE against either Obama or Hillary. If the GOP comes up with another nominee, it could be dangerous for the Dems in the GE. Hillary has won in the states that the Dems need, Obama has won in the states that Dems will likely lose. It looks like Obama will take the nomination. It sure would help the Dems if McCain, damaged goods that he is now, stayed in. As much as we all love our candidate, a more viable candidate puts more states at risk for the Dems if Obama is the Dem nominee. Don't flame me, I am just pointing out the real ugly facts behind the voters in several of these states. You know it as well as I do.

[colonel odis]

16. a viable candidate? like, um, huckabee? romney? mccain's the last

guy they have standing. one of his major weak points is being exposed.

after the last 8 years, the last thing voters want is a guy who's in the back pocket of lobbyists and ultra-hypocritical about it.

[lligrd]

27. Obama Will Do Fine In The States Hillary Won Too

I know in CA people are coming around to him. People here didn't get to know him like the later states have or he would have won here too.

[Baby Snooks]

34. McCain is the nominee

He has the delegate votes and the endorsement of the leaders of the party including the Bushes. Most Republicans don't like the Bushes. But then most Republicans didn't like the Bushes in 2004. And still voted for the Bushes. Everyone in this country is being manipulated.

Huckabee would love a "floor fight" but without the delegates, it won't happen. The same thing happened to Ronald Reagan in 1976.

The fix is in. McCain is in. And the question is why since they all had to know this would come up. Again. The answer is they intended for it to. To ensure Hillary Clinton would win. They knew Giuliani was becoming a serious candidate. So they indicted his right hand man over his ties to the Mafia. And indicted Guiliani in the process so to speak. Don't forget this is an administration with US Attorneys at its beck and call. The irony is the same corrupt system Guiliani used to launch his political career with is the same system used to destroy that career. These are not nice people you are dealing with. They have one goal. To take over this country. The Republicrats. The oligarchists.

The problem is Hillary Clinton may not be the Democratic candidate.

If Barack Obama becomes the candidate, there may be a floor fight. But the problem is Huckabee is an "outsider" and not one of them.

I really worry about Obama. Particularly after what happened in Dallas.

[redqueen]

6. Hahahahahahahahahaha...

oh, the irony!

[underpants]

2. Deposition here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2908037&mesg_id=2908037

[Supersedeas]

4. MSNBC doing its best to make the story dissappear by attacking NYT

[jaysunb]

33. It won't help.

The NYT will fight back by exposing more. Won't they ??????

[canoeist52]

21. How about Bloomberg?

What if they're discrediting McCain to insert Bloomberg into the race?