McCain’s ‘lobbyist problem’ manages to get worse

[ProSense]

McCain’s ‘lobbyist problem’ manages to get worse

Posted August 13th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

There were a couple of weeks in May that were rather embarrassing for the McCain campaign. The presumptive Republican nominee had developed a reputation as a politician who had little use for high-priced DC lobbyists, but it quickly became obvious that his entire campaign operation was being run by … high-priced DC lobbyists. In one eight-day stretch, McCain had to fire five lobbyists from key campaign roles because of their lobbying clients.

And that was before Randy Scheunemann was added to the mix. He may very well prove to be the most problematic of them all.

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Scheunemann’s work as a lobbyist poses valid questions about McCain’s judgment in choosing someone who — and whose firm — are paid to promote the interests of other nations,” New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told the AP. “So one must ask whether McCain is getting disinterested advice, at least when the issues concern those nations.”

This is pretty messy. On April 17, the day that Scheunemann’s firm was signing a lucrative deal with the Georgian government, Scheunemann also prepped John McCain for a phone call with the Georgian president and helped McCain with a public statement of support for Georgia.

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[Gabi Hayes]

1. funny thing about those lobbyists.....you only hear about them on Olbermann's show.

Abrams hasn't been mentioning them, from what I've seen, and, at CNN, the commenters on their page are asking why CNN isn't talking about it onair.

I saw some of the exchanges on PBS Lehrer tonight, and nobody mentioned it there (didn't see everything), including Madeleine Albright. they were playing serious, so maybe she didn't think it appropos to bring Scheuneman's name into the mix.

still, McCain's only gotten positive TV coverage that I've seen so far, aside from what I mentioned above

anybody else see lobbyists brought up, or McCain getting his words thrown back in his face by the saakashvili?

[ProSense]

2. They tried to ignore Phil "Enron" Gramm, but couldn't.

McCain is a walking scandal.

[AtomicKitten]

3. I fully expect McBush to be choking on this in due time.

Obama has an assload of ammunition; he would have had more had Congress investigated this administration, but I digress ... :(

Obama already signaled 'no more Mr. Nice Guy.' Rumor has it he's going to turn a blind eye to 527s.

Game on.

This is going to be fun.

[cliffordu]

4. Let the bloodletting begin!!!!!