“He’s like the kid who is late for the class test and he needs more time to study,”

[tekisui]

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/movingamerica08/obamarebuffs925

(snip)

“He’s like the kid who is late for the class test and he needs more time to study,” one Obama campaign insider said. “If he doesn’t show up Friday, it won’t look good. It will look like what it is: Transparent and posturing.”

Many are suggesting that McCain's surprising move was intended to serve as a distraction from potentially damaging news about key staffers from the campaign he's so willing to suspend.

After creating ads tying Obama to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's troubles and calling on Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines -- both Obama supporters and former Fannie Mae executives -- to return large golden parachute payments they received from the corporations after leaving, media outlets reported Wednesday that the lobbying firm of Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac almost up until the time it was taken over last month by the government in the nation's financial crisis.

That money is on top of more than $30,000 a month that went directly to Davis for five years starting in 2000.

The $30,000 a month came from both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the other housing entity now under government control because of the nation's financial crisis, after recruiting Davis to run a newly created group, the Homeownership Alliance. The five years of payments followed McCain's failed bid for the presidency in 2000.

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, reported early Tuesday evening that Davis' lobbying firm remained on the Freddie Mac payroll. The New York Times reported all the payments, posting an article on its Web site Tuesday night revealing the $15,000 a month to the firm of Davis Manafort. The newspaper quoted two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

On Wednesday, Obama's campaign accused Davis and McCain's campaign of not telling the truth about Davis' continuing financial relationship with Freddie Mac.

Campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said it was troubling that Davis' firm "continued to be compensated by Freddie Mac until as recently as last month, but that the firm did little work and apparently was being paid simply to provide access to the McCain campaign."

McCain's campaign pushed back.

"Mr. Davis has never -- never -- been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac," the McCain campaign said in criticizing the news media's focus on the payments to Davis and his lobbying firm.

Robert McCarson, who was director of corporate relations at Fannie Mae from 1999 to 2004, said it is "ironic that the campaign that bills itself as the campaign of reform would give such a legalistic answer.

"The reality is that Rick Davis didn't have to register as a lobbyist to do his most powerful lobbying, which was to be the person that John McCain staked his future in as his campaign manager," said McCarson, a Democrat who was an aide in 1990-91 to then-Rep. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

more...

[global1]

1. Using The Test/Study Analogy - McCain Pulled The Fire Alarm To.........

cancel the test.