There's Rebuttals and ReBUTTals
It often happens when Republicans get all unctuous and umbrageous about being falsely accused and start attacking the messenger that the accusations -- after the echoing cable megaphones die down -- turn out to be exactly right. This time it didn't take long. It seems St. John McCain's campaign slung more than a little bullshit yesterday, trying desperately to rebut the New York Times story about his hand in the blonde cookie jar. Clearly he says one thing when under oath, and quite another when merely granstanding before the cameras with the Debubot's heat vision burning a hole in his neck. It seems Newsweek has uncovered a deposition in which McCain himself, under oath, flatly contradicts McCain the Straight Talker. Oops.
Says Newsweek:
Just hours after the Times's story was posted, the McCain campaign issued a point-by-point response that depicted the letters as routine correspondence handled by his staff—and insisted that McCain had never even spoken with anybody from Paxson or Alcalde & Fay about the matter. "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde & Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC," the campaign said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.
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 Sept. 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."
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 Sept. 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."
While McCain said "I don't recall" if he ever directly spoke to the firm's lobbyist about the issue—an apparent reference to Iseman, though she is not named—"I'm sure I spoke to [Paxson]." McCain agreed that his letters on behalf of Paxson, a campaign contributor, could "possibly be an appearance of corruption"—even though McCain denied doing anything improper.
Now, is anybody else going to pull at this thread until the cheap coverup unravels?
posted by Kalkaino @ 1:50 PM
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