Straight Talk Veers Right

Last night we ventured into the tepid water of The New York Times's John McCain story. That piece had an awful lot of hand-waving and not much else. It wasn't hard to figure out what the Times was getting at, but you had to pretty much rely on hints and implication. Perhaps it's because the story was so vague, or perhaps because McCain is well aware that he can do no wrong in the eyes of the press, he wasted little time in coming forward and denying everything within earshot. Unfortunately, it's now coming out that maybe he should've been a bit more precise in determining exactly how much to refute. The Times said that lobbyist Vicki Iseman influenced McCain into writing letters to the FCC on behalf of Paxson Communications. McCain called a press conference to say that he'd never even met with Iseman, anyone from her lobbying firm, or anyone from Paxson itself about the letters. Michael Isikoff, unfortunately, pointed out a five-year-old deposition in which McCain says the exact opposite. Just for good measure, Lowell "Bud" Paxson chimed in to say that he certainly remembered meeting with McCain in McCain's office. McCain has gotten used to reflexively creating his own reality and pushing on unquestioning reporters. Does this mean that his "straight talk" will soon be exposed to a fact checker? Maybe a little bit more, but don't count on a groundswell. Old habits die hard.