I love it when Republicans deny sex scandals like McCain did this morning, especially when the original NY Times article (
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp&adxnnlx=1203614014-DcJNv47B5V%20GfVAsTiB3/w )
never said he had an affair. The article, if anyone bothers to read it, says his aides were so concerned that there was a romantic relationship between McCain and Iseman that they intervened in the relationship to shut it down. The fact that McCain is out there denying now speaks volumes. The more important part of the article is that all this work with Iseman as a lobbyist occurred *after* the Campaign Finance Reform that McCain loves to talk about. The importance is that he is speaking about reform and cleaning up Washington when he never intends to. His entire platform is based on ethics, standards and transparency, which, from the relationship with this lobbyist, it is so painfully clear that he doesn't believe in any of it. His house of cards is built in a foundation of quicksand. And he's gone in head first, instead of denying the heart of the article, the fact that he's not following his own reform policies, he is instead denying something the article never made a claim about. However, like any other Republican that is exposed for their hypocrisy when it comes to marriage and family values, the first step is to deny it. Then the media will dig deeper. Then they will resign, because they will eventually be shown to be as corrupt as the very thing they disdain. And it is indeed good that this is coming out now because if he continues to run his campaign on reform, he will continually be dogged by the questions raised by the NY Times article. If he is the GOP Nominee, this story will end up being the albatross around his neck. And while there is plenty of water around, he dare not drink it, for that would be the poison to his campaign. Yes, I suspect it will be a long, hot summer for his campaign to wander listlessly around a windless sea.