John McCain-Vicki Iseman Relationship Raises Questions of Senator’s Integrity
Early in Sen. John McCain’s first run for the White House in 1999-2000, waves of anxiety swept through his circle of advisers.
A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet.
Convinced the relationship was romantic, top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign say.
This New York Times investigation into John McCain and Vicki Iseman is the paper’s front-page story today, and is bound to dominate news cycles.
McCain, 71, and Vicki Iseman, 40, both say a romantic relationship did not happen. But the allegations of him cheating on Cindy McCain aren’t the worst problems that this story may cause the GOP presidential hopeful.
Even the appearance of close ties to a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the U.S. Senate committee McCain led could threaten the story of redemption and rectitude that define his political identity.
Vicki Iseman, a partner at Alcalde & Fay, represented telecommunications companies for whom McCain’s commerce committee was pivotal.
Her clients contributed tens of thousands to his campaigns.
Immediately after the story broke, McCain advisers challenged its accuracy and questioned the newspaper’s motivation in running it.
We highly recommend reading the New York Times‘ full story and drawing your own conclusions, but here are a few points:
- John McCain, who was nearly undone by the Keating Five scandal in 1991, has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards. A case of perceived hypocrisy such as this will certainly be damaging.
- The fact that the Times was working on the story became an open secret in recent months, and The New Republic was even working on its own story on whether the Times would publish its findings.
- How this plays out remains to be seen, but it’s going to play out in some capacity and that alone is significant.
- If - and it’s a big if - a severely weakened John McCain is poised to become the GOP nominee, we could see a surge in the popularity of challenger Mike Huckabee, the return of Mitt Romney to the race, even a brokered convention.
NATIONAL
February 21st, 2008 at 8:14 am
Why does McCain’s wife look so “EVIL?”
February 21st, 2008 at 8:25 am
Finally, I see someone mention the Keating Five scandal and McCain! I can’t believe McCain has gotten this far without the liberal media slamming him for his hypocrisy. I’m so tired of McCain trying to look the moral conservative when he’s not. In fact, the media is doing a POOR job of rebutting/negating these politicians’ claims. We voters need more, honest analysis of these politicians. They can say anything to sway voters, but we should have the media or someone TELLING THE TRUTH!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:17 am
This is an old story about a man with consistent taste in women. Capt McCain talks a good talk about ethics, yada..yada..yada. Any search on the web will show him to be a much different character. 100 demerits a year at the naval academy, lack luster fighter, and for someone that says they are ambivalent to the DC insiders, he has a great track record behaving like one of them, including meeting his current wife while philandering (by his own admission of selfishness), and capitalizing on wife II’s great connections. This is a story as ancient at civilization itself, and McCain is no Archimedes; troubled son of overachieving father and grandfather and never quite able to measure up to the great accomplishments and high standards of his pedigree. It made him an angry child, an abrasive adolescent, a surely adult, a soldier ambivalent to authority, and a civil servant more known for his temper and skirt-chasing than abject accomplishments. Capt McCain is owed a debt of gratitude for his service and great sacrifice for his country. He is not owed a blank check to simply forgoe all reason and common sense in electing a public servant into the most powerful position on the planet. Here is the test: would his first wife, his father and grandfather, his CO’s of his commands, and the airmen he commanded vote for him based on his strength of character, ability to lead, and infinite patience and fortitude to lead the greatest nation in the world?
“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.” -Elbert Hubbard
February 21st, 2008 at 9:18 am
McCain cheated on his first wife with Cindy McCain. No Surprise here
February 21st, 2008 at 9:30 am
Where’s the BEEF?
There isn’t any. Slow news day for the Times…
February 21st, 2008 at 10:24 am
Well, here we go, yet another Republican making headline news based on inpropriety. DC’s finest. Looks like the same old game played by the same old tired folks. Lets cut through the chase here. The name of the game now is deny, deny, deny. Sounds just like an extension of Roger Clemmons testimony. I will agree this is old news, but, people have a right to know his character and he is not a saint and some things you do in life comes back to haunt you. He’s a cheater and cheaters cheat. Its up to you to figure out whether he’s going to cheat on the american people. My guess is, he is going to be just like Bush and his administration with no changes at all. Tired off the misuse of power and scandals. We put people in office to use their power to help America achieve their goals, not to abuse it. Everybody is thinking he is a stand up guy and once you open the closet door, the bones come flying out. I really thought the cutoff for messing around was 60, but I forgot, they make viagra and geritol. “I never had relations with that woman” haha
February 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
hmmmf! Capt. McCain used to drive a flashy french ‘red’ Eldorado Cadillac. You could see the bright flashy red car on the Hill at lunchtime. He’s a flashy character and to have ‘old’ southern gent, Charlie Black, come to his defense on CNN, should confirm true admission of guilt for McCain’s womanizing skill and his acceptance of die hard special interest. They can’t help it … it’s woven in their fabric!