Redstate

Posted at 8:34pm on Feb. 23, 2008 The Silliest Scandal In A Long Time

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

We are now fixated over the issue of whether John McCain met a few people a while back thanks to the efforts of a lobbyist (with whom it is alleged without any evidence whatsoever that McCain had an affair of some sort). The alleged meeting was concerning regulatory issues surrounding the sale of a television station in Pittsburgh. One lobbyist claims that he did indeed meet with McCain. Another thinks not:

A former Paxson Communications president said Saturday he never met with John McCain about the Arizona senator writing letters to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the regulatory delay of a Pittsburgh TV station sale.

Dean Goodman, who was in charge of the company's lobbying efforts in 1999, told The Associated Press he also doubts that chief executive Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson met with McCain over the issue, and said he doesn't recall such a meeting.

McCain's presidential campaign said the Arizona senator and then-chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, before sending the letters, which have drawn controversy in recent days. But Paxson told The Washington Post in a story published Saturday that he and "probably" Iseman met with McCain on the matter several weeks before the senator sent the letters.

Goodman, who left the company a year and a half ago, took issue with that account in a telephone interview from West Palm Beach, Fla.

"I never met with or discussed this with Senator McCain," Goodman said. "I don't recall Bud meeting with McCain. It would be extremely rare that there would be a meeting that I didn't attend, and I can tell you that I didn't have a meeting with McCain on this issue."

"Whether Bud discussed it with him or not, via some other mechanism, I can't rule it out," Goodman added. But, he said, "I don't think there was a meeting."

Efforts to reach Paxson and Iseman were not successful.

Read on . . .

Posted in 2008 | Jon McCain | Smear Tactics — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:47am on Feb. 9, 2008 Fred Endorses McCain

WE SHOULD TOO

By California Yankee

Fred Thompson, said late Friday he was endorsing McCain:

"This is no longer about past preferences or differences. It is about what is best for our country and for me that means that Republican should close ranks behind John McCain," Thompson said in a statement.

John McCain, in his new status as the presumptive Republican nominee has reached out to Conservatives. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., he was introduced by former Virginia Senator George Allen and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, a not so subtle blessing from respected Conservative leaders.

McCain offered to meet disaffected Conservatives halfway. He vowed to lower taxes, appoint judges "of the character and quality of Justices Roberts and Alito," and reject "big government" solutions to health care, reminded the audience of his continuing support for the war, declaring, "I intend to win the war."

Read on.

Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Fred Thompson | Jon McCain — Comments (78)/ Email this page » / Read More »