Did John McCain sell his influence as a Senator?
Last week, when The New York Times published their article about John McCain and Vicki Iseman, the focus was strictly on the possible romantic involvement between the Senator and the lobbyist. Since then, myself and other bloggers, as well as several newspapers have tried to show that the focus should not be on the possible romance, but rather on the fact that she influenced Senator McCain to go to bat for some of her clients. There seems to be a lot more to this story than The New York Times has told.
World Net Daily has an article that alludes to this very fact. It has to do with an African-American broadcaster, Edwin Edwards, who wanted to get the FCC off his back.
The New York Times last week published a major, controversial expose that insinuated McCain had a romantic relationship with telecommunications lobbyist Vicki Iseman, whose clients had a large stake in decisions made by the Senate Commerce Committeee McCain headed. The report, however, was denied by McCain and widely discredited for lack of evidence.
Now come the allegations from groups including the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.
They concern Eddie Edwards, an African-American broadcaster who wanted to get the Federal Communications Commission off his back but found little support in Washington for his situation a few years ago.
The then-president of Glencairn Broadcasting Properties had been using so-called “local marketing agreements” with other broadcasters to get around FCC rules forbidding one company from owning two TV stations in the same city.
But the FCC planned to close the broadcast-ownership loophole, and Edwards sought the help of politicians.
According to his own testimony, it wasn’t until he decided to give $4,000 in personal donations to Sen. John McCain, who at the time was chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, and another $40,000 to a then 30-year-old Iseman, that anything happened.
Edwards confirmed in a recent interview that he was only able to get an audience with McCain after retaining Iseman to lobby on his behalf.
McCain’s campaign maintains the senator’s efforts to retain the loophole were not done in response to any specific request. His campaign did not respond to specific WND requests for comment on the latest issue.
Shortly after Edwards retained Iseman and made a donation to McCain, the senator fired off three letters to the FCC regarding the issue, including one in which he threatened to try to overhaul the licensing agency if it closed the loophole.
After that word from the senator, who then was chairman of the committee that oversaw broadcasting and telecommunications and had sway over the FCC budget, the agency backed off.
I believe these allegations are a lot more than just a smoking gun. More and more, it is becoming clear that John McCain, for all his posturing and telling us how he has never betrayed the public trust, has clearly been in bed with the very special interests groups who he has campaigned against for years. I personally believe that the Republican party stands virtually no chance of winning the general election in November, if he is our nominee.
Stop and think about it. Day after day, more reports come out about his relationship with lobbyists. Some of them are from his own admission and in his own words. For us to nominate a candidate, such as John McCain, we are giving the Democrats exactly what they want. Someone who they already have plenty of ammunition against and someone who can not possibly hope to keep up with Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Beyond that, do we really want to nominate someone who can not be trusted? I think not.
These reasons are just some of the reasons I will continue to support Mike Huckabee for President. He is what he is and he can be trusted.
That’s my take!
Larry
You might want to read this article, especially the letter. McCain seems to have no trouble being a double-talker versus a straight talker.
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/print/more-dirt-on-mccain/
Copy of Tax Warrant of Bill Keller editor of New York Times McCain storyCopy of Tax Warrant of Bill Keller editor of New York Times McCain story
webofdeception.com/editorkellertaxwarrantnewyorktimesmccain.html
Hi Larry -
I didn’t know where to post this so I thought I would add it here under your Mike topic.
For those who visit here who may not know there is an online petition requesting John McCain to debate with Mike Huckabee before March 4th. As of this email, we have 11,720 signatures and growing. http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?jkb1961
Today Mike Huckabee sent a letter to John McCain asking for said debate.
Mike is also asking anyone who would like to be a co-signer to the letter to add their names.
Additionally, the debate information has hit the airways and is getting a lot of attention and PBS Direction, Mike Thomas is considering covering the debate because “he feels that there just may be a story here.” I’d say!
For further information or to add your name to the letter, please visit my blog @ http://anunlikelyperspective.blogspot.com/
The news on the ground in Texas is electrifying and Texans are coming out in droves. The first meeting Mike showed up for had over 2,000 people in attendance. Four walls had to be taken down in order to make room for everyone.
This is an exciting time in Mike’s Campaign. It feels like Iowa again!
Remaining Steadfast, Dominique
I found it very difficult to get beyond starting with an issue that was brought up by the lying rag that is what the New York times these days.
The article was so bad that even most of the democrats rejected it.
I will try to get past those and study the links you reference.
Keep in mind I will also find any responses from the McCain camp since I don’t just accept comments attacking anyone without giving them a chance to respond.
Huckabee had a whole lot of attacks for instance that people just blindly accepted as true that were totally untrue or half truths. Remember how these drove us all crazy.
I will not do that even with Hillary or Obama let alone McCain.
I will do my own research and return with my results.
I am assuming that you are willing to be proved wrong if I have proof. If I am incorrect I will say so.
I can remember back in the late 70′s when I thought abortion should be a personal choice. I was wrong. I now use the same methods used on me to convince others.
Timothy,
You go right ahead and dig all you want to. I am not referring to any kind of relationship with Vicki Iseman personally. What I am referring to is the relationship with the lobbyists. He has a lot of them on his campaign payroll and he has proven already that he will go to bat for them. Again, it just makes me wonder what he will do when he is President. I realize he is a lot better than Obama or Hillary, but it still makes me wonder.
I have given this some thought Larry and am still planning on researching what you wrote.
My big problem is how can we support Huckabee for president and yet ignore his advise to support McCain (meaning to really get behind and push for McCain).
The biggest problem Huckabee always had in the primaries was his own supporters hurting him by not listening to him and doing things he did not want them to do.
How is this whole discussion not just more of that.
I mean we say Huckabee would be a great president but yet we don’t support him to lead us.
Doesn’t pass the smell test.
There were many times that so called supporters had me (and I have even been told the Huckabee campaign) wondering if they were plants trying to harm him.
Having Huckabees supporters go against his wishes makes Mike look weak.
Period.
I have studied this for about 5 hours today.
After researching the post you made and finding it to be charges with no real proof unless you can show me something else that points to something with actual facts I am putting this in the same realm as the “Huckabee is really a liberal charges”.
You have a lot of links just making claims. Many of the links even say that they are just allegations that have been made.
By doing a “edwards iseman mccain” google search I only find blogs and the Times on this. No really good news sources are reporting the connection you claim (meaning not an affair but a lobbying effert. Many are saying that The NY was not accurate. Some are saying it looked improper. In fact the Times really didn’t say it was fact but only seemed wrong.
How is that fair?
Isn’t this the same kind of thing that was done to Mike?
The issue of Mike’s son, the dog and his being accused of covering it up comes to mind.
Same thing. All charges with no real facts.
The problem with using blogs, liberal news sources like The NY Times and politicians as sources is that they promote opinion as facts based on bias.
Many of the sites making these claims don’t even respect his war service. They claim he was a traitor.
Even conservative sources can do this. Remember Hannity deciding Huckabee was no longer running in Florida.
The new sources you posted disliked McCain and then proved their stand. They are bias.
Do you really think they no more about McCain than Huckabee does?
Do you think Mike is just uninformed about McCain?
If so then why would support someone who is so out of touch?
Keep in mind this is the “Huckabee Alliance” site.
We need to do every thing we can to get John McCain elected or we will be stuck with Obama or Clinton for 4-8 years.
Bringing charges on this site such as these are much more harmful than if they were made by Obama and Clinton and they will be brought up in the General Election.
Picture the TV commercial “former Huckabee supporters don’t know if they will support John McCain, they have trust issues, details at 11″.
Not a pretty picture. Every thing done on a Mike Huckabee support sitewill reflect on him. Even if he does not agree with it.
You need a reality check.
Mr. Lynch … there’s one place you need to go to read about John McCain http://ktracy.com/?p=1187 (you can also peruse his other posts about McCain while you are there). I don’t agree with Kevin on everything, but his posts are carefully written and researched. I also have some posts on my blog about Sen. McCain that you are free to read.
Some quick thoughts …
1. Mike Huckabee supports McCain because he has to if he doesn’t want to sabotage his future run for the Presidency.
2. This is still the United States of America and we are free to remain Huckabee supporters without blindly supporting McCain just because that’s who Huckabee supports (again, that’s political) or just because we are ordered to do so by other republicans.
3. Now that Huckabee is no longer running, we are free to maintain conservative blogs without taking marching orders from the GOP.
4. As you will see at ktracy.com and my blog, we have plenty of things about McCain that make us very uncomfortable without needing to bring in this particular lobbyist issue. You have only to look at the bills he has sponsored in the senate to raise red flags all over the place.
Folks. If you do not support McCain and say Huckabee is incorrect by supporting him you show little respect by saying he has to.
Again you are deciding what is best for Mike Huckabee.
This is what cost him the election.
Mike Huckabee is a friend of John McCain and to say he has to support him and is pretending to like him now is both incorrect and insulting.
You are saying Mike is either a lier or that he is stupid.
You folks are supporting Obama and Clinton by not seeing as Mike has that he was the second best choice in the primary. Which he said long before McCain was ahead of him.
If I really thought Huckabee was forced into supporting someone I would have no respect for him. Your comments are going to drive people who believe them away from him who might think they are true.
They can also cause him to loose any chance of the VP slot.
I read the post you listed onemom and again see no facts.
Yet another person getting Obama or Clinton elected who can’t get over Huckabee’s loosing to McCain.
Huckabee does not want his supporters to do this. He has stated that he will support McCain just as strongly as he did himself.
Timothy,
First of all, no one has said Huckabee doesn’t actually like John McCain. There is no insult intended or implied when saying Huckabee has to support McCain in order to ensure being able to run again in 2012. Time after time, you have said that there is no evidence against McCain. To be honest, I am tired of hearing that argument. I have not claimed McCain and Ms. Iseman were literally in bed with each other, but McCain has certainly been in bed, figuratively speaking, with special interests and lobbyists. It’s a shame that you can not see how he has conducted himself while in the Senate. I am also tired of hearing how I am helping Obama or Ms. Clinton win the White House, simply by voicing my concerns about McCain. That is simply not the truth, no matter how many times you say it.
I will not be blindly led to support someone I can not trust. McCain has proven that he can not be trusted and even though I may vote for him in November, I will not give him the support that I gave Mike Huckabee.
The problem is with your evidence. Charges are not accusations but claims of wrong doing with no like anyone has posted points to facts but only someone’s opinion.
This is what they did with Mike. Misleading statements, half truths and lies.
If I thought Huckabee was supporting McCain for political gain I would not still support him because that would make him like Clinton.
In fact it is the worse charge I have ever heard about him.
How can it be coming from someone who supports him.
When this kind of thing was going one by so supporters doing attacks and push-pull I had to be talked into understanding that Mike was trying to stop it.
It was one of the co-originators of the alliance web site that convinced me that Mike had nothing to do with it.
If a person like myself who had supported him for about 6 months can start to question how much he tried to stop this, what do you think non supporters will believe.
What I am saying is. On a site called “The Huckabee Alliance” that is linked to this blog, should reflect what Mike wants.
Support Huckabee support McCain. Don’t support McCain and you are no longer supporting Huckabee.
In the general election our choices will be Obama/Clinton or John McCain or some third part person.
If you choose one of the last 2 options then fine but you are no longer supporting Huckabee.
If you don’t get behind McCain by bringing up the same type of issues that the others bring up, then you are now supporting them.
Unless you don’t plan on voting.
I agree with you on one thing. Trust is the most important thing in selecting candidates.
I trust that Mike Huckabee nows John McCain and is being truthful when he says he likes him.
I also trust John McCain until someone shows something like legal documents showing other wise.
Linking to sites with people that sound like they did about as much research as Rush, Coulter and Hannity is not proof.
How is this any different than what was done to Huckabee in the primary?
On the other hand McCain wasn’t the one doing it.
Sure Huckabee would have made a better president but I’ve yet to see something that would lead me to think he wouldn’t be far better than Obama or Clinton.
You even say he would be better but go on bringing up trust issues.
Are you going to support him or attack him?
Remember that Mike Huckabee has begged us not to do the later.
What else would you call “I wish they would not do that”.
One more question Larry? If Huckabee asked you personally not to say you are a Huckabee supporter and then attack McCain would you and others stop.
I might try to see if I can get him to do that. I know he reads some of his bloggers post.
This is the real issue here.
Were this discussion is taking place, who is doing it and that this is the kind of thing that Huckabee has already said hurts him.
When I first saw this kind of thing after Iowa I wondered if it wasn’t someone trying to hurt him but pretending to be an supporter.
The same source I mention above (the alliance co-founder) mentioned that Huckabee himself was wondering the same thing. He told me that Huckabee had went to court to try to stop it. Mainly over the push-pull but also about attacking the other candidates.
Mr. Lynch … Mike Huckabee would never ask us to not disagree with him. Nor would he tell us that if we don’t do exactly what he says then we can’t be his supporters. This is the United States of America Mr. Lynch. Your logic has no merit.
During Mike’s campaign, there were many bloggers (Huckabee supporters) who chastised things that occured in his campaign … who disagreed with various things, but still overall supported Huckabee. He never censored us, and that is exactly what you would be asking him to do.
You are so fixated on this one post here on Larry’s blog … one post about this story, and you miss the point entirely. This discussion isn’t about the inuendos of a sexual affair, but of McCain’s political relationships with lobbyists.
You found no facts at Kevin Tracy’s blog … then you aren’t looking.
No one said Huckabee was wrong to endorse McCain … he is free to do that, as we are free to now be undecided and to openly voice our concerns about McCain.
Mr. Lynch,
One Mom has hit it right on the head. Time after time, I have tried to show you that the article is not about a sexual affair, but about the political relationships that John McCain has with the lobbyists. I whole heartedly disagree with you when you say I am not a Huckabee supporter if I am not doing exactly what he is doing and supporting McCain. You can disagree all you want to with my objections of McCain, but if you would look at his record in the Senate, you would see he can not be trusted. Just look at McCain-Feingold and tell me it has not played a large part in putting down candidates such as Mike Huckabee. That bill is one of the largest infringements on free speech that I have ever seen. Again, go ahead and disagree with me all you want to, but just don’t try to tell me I am not supporting Mike Huckabee if I don’t support McCain.
Huckabee has asked his supporters not to attack John McCain. Keep in mind he even asked Chuck Norris not to. Saying he would not ask us to not attack McCain is not factual.
If you want to call this censorship, then so be it.
What I was going to ask Huckabee to do is to clear up the issue of why he is supporting McCain since both of you seem to have drawn your own conclusions.
Also Larry, what makes you think I am dwelling on the affair thing. I was responding on the topic at hand being “Did John McCain sell his influence as a Senator?”. I said nothing of the affair but only addressed the fact that charges made without fact sound a little to anti American to me and that Huckabee had his own attacks just like these.
Also not supporting McCain is one thing. But going to a pro Huckabee site as a pro Huckabee person and attacking him is another.
Did you even try to find out from the McCain camp what their response to these charges was.
John McCain tried to address these influence peddling charges a year ago and no one would listen just as they did not listen 6 months ago when the same people (did you get that the same people) made attacks on Mike. Remember Mike trying to say what the truth was and only getting blasted more and more.
McCain-Feingold was passed to stop the buying of political favors. I don’t get the whole free speech issue. Just don’t see it. What does trying to stop corruption have to do with free speech? I see that it didn’t address indirect attack groups but only direct contributions over a certain amount. In other words it did not go far enough.
A person should not go into public office poor and use that office to get rich. President Johnson is a good example.
Besides Huckabee proved that with good money management you don’t need the laws changed back. You can get elected with very little money.
Also as said earlier Huckabee has even went to court over his “supporters” doing the push-pull thing. He has made it clear that all candidates should stick to their stand on the issues and not attack or use their supporters to attack each other.
I have my doubt as to how well you understand Mike Huckabee because he would never agree with “Did John McCain sell his influence as a Senator?”.
Like I have said in saying Mike is only supporting McCain for political gain is both wrong and is an attack on him.
In fact what you are saying is that he is a lier like Ms Clinton. If a came to understand anything about Mike Huckabee is that he says exactly what he believes to be true. He does not make false statements, half truths or lies to get elected.
I think you have him confused with someone else.
If I thought he was supporting McCain for the reason you two state, I would feel very betrayed. In fact I would lose all respect for him.
Mr. Lynch,
It appears we need to forego this discussion, since we obviously are not going to agree. I personally do not see that my article is an attack on John McCain. I am only raising issues that I believe need to be raised. McCain’s way of dealing with these issues is to just stop answering questions about them. He said so himself when the articles were first published.
As for McCain-Feingold, Mike Huckabee himself has bemoaned the way it has kept candidates like himself from gaining traction. Yes, he had a very frugal campaign and went far, but the fact remains, he did not win. Sad to say, but it is true. You ask what this has to do with free speech? I would ask you a question. How is allowing someone to bundle large amounts of money to give to a candidate and not allowing individuals to give what they want to give good for our system. It surely sounds like a bash on free speech to me.
Once and for all, I am tired of you trying to say I am calling Huckabee a lier and that he is like Hillary Clinton. I have not said or implied that. I have not said that he makes false statements to win an election. I do believe he is already aiming for 2012, which I hope he is. If he were not, I believe he might consider a third party run himself. However, he knows to do so would ruin his chances of running as a Republican in 2012. I believe he is positioning himself for that run and I do not see a thing wrong with him doing so.
What would you have me to do? Not voice my concerns about John McCain and his positions on the issues I care deeply about? Would you want me to just shut up, sit down, and vote the way the Republican party would want me to vote? I think not. That is the very reason our country is in the shape it is in right now. The Republican party has decided we can be ignored and that we will vote for the candidate they provide. Maybe it is time for us to stand up and say we will vote our conscience, not the way they tell us.
I still have not decided what I am going to do in November. I may very well vote for McCain, if for no other reason than to try to prevent the Democrats from winning the White House. However, I will continue to voice my concerns over John McCain. Even if he is better than Obama or Clinton, he is still a terrible candidate and we could have done much better.
Your post was called “Did John McCain sell his influence as a Senator?”
You opened a can of worms and were not really expecting someone to disagree.
Also to say Huckabee is supporting McCain just to win in a future election is insulting. It is saying that he is not supporting McCain because he likes him but because he wants this future win and needs to support McCain.
That may be something you would do if you were him but Huckabee would think that was wrong and I don’t believe it would even occur to him. He simply would not be in his nature to think of it.
Do you really think Mike would want his supporters to attack McCain. No he wants them to support him.
You just need to understand that whenever a person presents themselves as a Huckabee supporter does the opposite he is no longer supporting Huckabee if he makes a public statement.
It is one thing not to support McCain but to call upon Huckabee’s supporters to check into McCain’s record shouldn’t be done on a site supporting Huckabee since it is not what he wants. It is not the place for it.
You never addressed the lack of real facts on the links you provided as well. You acted like you did but they were only charges with no facts to back them up.
Don’t you think the liberal press would be jumping all over this if it was true. In fact there is less evidence of McCain’s issues than their was of Mike’s.
We live in a Blog age were anyone can make any charge against anyone and don’t really need any facts but just to present the attack in a believable manner.
I wish you could see that this is no different than the attacks Mike had to deal with.
When Mike says we should speak of were our candidate stands on the issues and stay away from attacking the other candidates, I agree with him. Which is why I never would believe Mike would play politics with his McCain endorsement.
I’m not blindly following Huckabee but when I like you were looking at what to do next his logic once again made sense.
We can’t afford Obama. Clinton does have well documented cases of not being truthful. She has made claims that are impossible to be true. Claims that would require time travel.
For McCain to do McCain/Feingold and then to get in bed with lobbyist is also impossible because the idea that the press would not pick up on him being so 2 face would suspend belief. It would mean that they passed up the biggest story of the 2008 election. It would mean the press could assure a win for Obama or Clinton.
Mr. Lynch,
First of all, I did not open the can of worms. John McCain opened it by conducting himself the way he has during his tenure in the Senate.
Secondly, I ask you again. Would you have me not voice my concerns over McCain’s actions? You say there is no proof, but you refuse to consider his actions as proof. McCain would have us just stop talking about it because he wants to stop answering questions about it, but his actions as Senator proves he is not a conservative and I believe it proves he can not be trusted.
You say it is impossible for McCain to ramrod the passage of McCain-Feingold and then get in bed with the lobbyists because it suspends belief to think the press would not pick up on it. That is simply not the case. I will make a prediction. Just wait until the Democrats have their nominee and then see how the press picks up on McCain and his actions. I believe you are going to see an onslaught of media attention that John McCain will not enjoy. They are just waiting for the general election to get started and they will bring out their guns.
Once more, I am not trying to insult Mike Huckabee, but I refuse to blindly support McCain. There are numerous concerns about the man that I believe should be aired. Doing so does not make me any less of a supporter of Mike Huckabee.
Timothy,
Did you see the date on this article? The article was written when Mike Huckabee was still campaigning and still in the race (even though the media tried to make everyone think it was over)
Many Huckabee supporters don’t feel comfortable with McCain. When will people realize that we are independent thinkers that don’t blindly follow our leaders. (If we were, we never would have supported Mike Huckabee) We have to answer to God for everything we do. I believe that includes how we vote. I, for one, haven’t made up my mind yet. A lot depends on who he chooses for his VP. If he doesn’t choose a CONSISTENT moral values conservative; I cannot vote for him.
Timothy,
When you started commenting on this page, did you realize that date of this blog was February 26th?
Mike supports McCain because Mike is Republican politician. Just because Mike support McCain, it doesn’t mean we have to support McCain.
What happened to my last post?
I posted one after these two this morning.
Mr. Lynch,
I deleted your last comment because I feel this discussion has gone on long enough. It is obvious that you are not going to change your mind and I am not going to change mine, so it is best if it stops now. You are welcome to comment on my blog, but I do not see this discussion leading anywhere except to a dead end road.