Bye, Bye Rick Davis

[maddezmom]

The biggest story of the campaignAll comments () Mark this day down. Today – last night, actually – the New York Times and Roll Call reported (it's hard to see who was first) what may be the biggest political story of the campaign. How big? John McCain might have to fire his campaign manager. Big enough?

The story is this. The lobbying firm of Rick Davis, the manager, was being paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac until last month. That fact is a direct contradiction of words McCain had spoken Sunday night. At that time, responding to a Times story being prepared for Monday's paper revealing that Davis had been the head of a lobbying consortium led by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae until 2005, McCain said Davis had done no further work for either mortgage giant.

Someone's lying – either Davis to McCain, or McCain to the public. I trust you see the problem here.

The stories are here, by David Kirkpatrick (whose reporting on this topic has been leading the way) and Jackie Calmes of the Times, and here, by Tory Newmeyer of Roll Call. You should definitely read every word of both. I think after you do you'll agree that, depending on how big the pick-up is today and how hard the Obama camp presses this, it's pretty difficult to see how Davis can stay on as campaign manager.

The revelations are devastating for two reasons. First, as I noted above, either Davis lied to McCain or McCain lied to the voters. From the Times story:

On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and The Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about that tie between Mr. Davis and the two mortgage companies by saying that he "has had nothing to do with it since, and I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it."

more:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/sep/24/johnmccain.congress

[Muttocracy]

1. ooh, I like seeing McCain between rock and hard place! nt

[K Gardner]

2. Excellent article.

[DS1]

3. 15,000 a month is a nice bit of money on the side

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. The poster up-thread edited, so nothing from here on down makes sense

Hey, what if we could all revise history? Why can't we all go back to 2000 and edit the election?

[DS1]

11. whoops

I hadn't looked at it that way. it's less my own goal in life, in fact :blush:

[Schema Thing]

12. Yes, if you're not doing actual, real, work for that 180K

[OmahaBlueDog]

13. You would bring THAT up

;-)

[redqueen]

14. What... rewriting laws to suit your johns isn't real work?

:P

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Big Mac is in a tight spot

It's not a good sign to fire your campaign manager.

It may not be a good sign to keep him, either.

[napi21]

5. I know they keep saying that Davis is the mgr. but isn't there some guy

named Schmit or Smitt or something like that supposed to be running the show? The guy who's Rove's protege.

[Botany]

6. Davis' time is running out

McCain keeps him and he is done ... McCain dumps him and he is done.

[Swamp Rat]

7. k&r

[1776Forever]

20. Hey Swamp Rat - Glad to see you here! I couldn't agree with you more!

It is the American thing to do!

Too bad it hasn't been done before now but I feel it is never too late to get rid of pond scum.

Take care!

:hi:

[StrictlyRockers]

34. Hey SwampRat, wow 43,000 posts and still going strong...

[emulatorloo]

9. Seems like the October Surprise has come a few days early.

Note that McCain campaign is not denying it, just attacking the NYT.

------
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/McCain_camp_attacks_Times_doesnt_deny_report.html

September 24, 2008
Categories: John McCain

McCain camp attacks Times, doesn't deny report

The Mccain camp has a 698-word statement out in response to today's story that Rick Davis's firm, Davis Manafort, was paid a consulting fee of $15,000 a month starting in 2005, and ending last month.

<SNIP>

What the statement doesn't dispute is the actual news in the story: the $15,000 monthly payments from Freddie Mac, which began while Davis was still running the firm. You can judge the news value of that for yourself.

So don't mistake the extended non-denial for an argument about the substance of the story. At this point in the race, details like that may be less important than broader electoral positioning, and the campaign seeks to escalate this into an argument with the Times, rather than a conversation about Davis's ties. The question is whether the conservative base -- which hotly contested negative stories about Sarah Palin -- will defend Davis, not a particular conservative hero, with the same vigor.

--------------------------------

Other posts here note that Rick Davix has canceled all scheduled press availability.

[Sonicmedusa]

10. We really meed to start refering to McShame as "Johnny Mac" (NT)

[pleah]

15. Why hasn't the McCrazy campaign emploded already?

Scandal after scandal, lie after lie...... WTF? :shrug:

[Wednesdays]

23. IOKIYAR

Or as Bartcop puts it, he has the magic "R" after his name, that washeth away all sins. :eyes:

[JohnnyRingo]

16. They're Republicans..... They'll come up with a new word to describe what he does

"He wasn't a lobbyist, he performed duty as outlook analyst for Freddie Mac."
Or "He worked part time for the company as a freelance market advisor".

See how easy that is? The Repubs are master wordsmiths, and I'll bet he goes nowhere.

[Jamastiene]

24. They were strategerists. n/t

[flamingdem]

17. k n r

[jberryhill]

18. Reminds me of Gary Hart asking reporters to follow him....

...and follow him they did.

[progressoid]

19. But, but, but, what about the Clenis?

There has got to be a way to blame Clinton for this right?

[WhiteTara]

21. kick

:kick:

[bertman]

22. Stop beating up on McAnus. He used to live in a cage, my friends.

[Imagevision]

25. McCain is losing it and it's getting worse with each passing day.

he woulf love to be able to just go home to Arizona and tell everyone he's in Washington...

[TexasObserver]

26. Carly and Rick, sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g!

Kissing their own asses good bye!

Dayam, that McCain sure can pick 'em, can't he?!

[TahitiNut]

27. Not satisfied with crashing government airplanes, McCain helps crash economy and his campaign.

McCain is a walking, talking clusterfuck.

I think I'll refer to McCain/Palin from now on as Cluster/McFuck :shrug:

[backwoodsbob]

28. could explain things

why shithead hannity has been claiming some shit about someone in Obama's camp who worked for Fannie or Freddie.They can say we were doing it too when this shit came out.

Fuck them.

[cui bono]

29. Too bad this is getting buried by McCain's lame Hail Mary pass.

[lonestarnot]

30. K & R

[spanone]

31. john harwood on hardball was saying how no one was talking about this today

and davis will ptobably stay on.....maybe that's what the whole deal was about

after all this is karl fucking rove we're dealing with here

[FrenchieCat]

33. But the election isn't over.

[krkaufman]

40. Several stories have been overshadowed by McCain's antics

This "suspension" is another gamble by the McCain campaign, to try to change the news coverage and get back in the game. Just like the selection of Palin.

[live love laugh]

32. "...'ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody.." HA! It was examined and it didn't pass.

[OakCliffDem]

35. K & R

[TexasObserver]

36. He will join Carly and that female lobbyist in a remote location.

[KharmaTrain]

37. 15K? Mere Pocket Change...

I'll bet Davis walks around with that in parking money. My bets are this is one of many little hush funds Davis had set up for "access"...and just plain forgot he was still being bought. Ooops.

Looking at this from the bigger picture, this revelation and now the suspension of the campaign makes one very suspicious. Why would Gramps want to grind his "machine" to a halt unless one of the major pieces isn't working any more. Look for Davis under the bus if this story gets more traction in the corporate media.

What's ironic is how even when these goons are exposed, they still are kept on by Camp Gramps in one form or fashion.

[krkaufman]

39. 15K ... per month. (180K/year) ... for apparently doing nothing ...

... other than being the campaign manager for the guy who could become President.

[krkaufman]

38. The Couric/Palin interview clearly demonstrates the problem for the McCain campaign

Palin was either lying or clueless, neither of which are good for a politician.