[Edited to reflect a slightly more realistic world view - L.L.]
A lot of cyber-ink has already been spilled on this evening's New York Times piece on McCain and Vicki Iseman. I wanted to take a moment to focus attention on an extremely curious passage from the McCain campaign's press release responding to the article.
Here's the line from the release that grabbed my attention:
"John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity."
Let's unpack this for a minute.
McCain is 71 years old. He was first elected to Congress in 1982, which means January 2008 marked his 25th anniversary of service as a federal lawmaker. And we all know that McCain served this country honorably in the military for a number of years prior to embarking upon a political career. So clearly McCain has been "serving our country" for more than 24 years, even if you exclude his military career from the calculation.
What are we to conclude from the strange wording of the statement? I can think of several possibilities, none of which is flattering to McCain.
One possibility, in my opinion at least, is this: Of McCain's 25 years in Congress, the campaign is tacitly admitting that the year in which McCain became embroiled in the Keating fiasco was one year in which he did not serve honorably.
Finally, consider also this quote from Charles R. Black Jr., described by the Washington Post as "a top adviser to McCain's current presidential campaign and the head of a Washington lobbying firm called BKSH & Associates."
"It's a shame that the New York Times has chosen to smear John McCain like this. Neither Senator McCain nor the campaign will dignify false rumors and gossip by responding to them. John McCain has never done favors for anyone, not lobbyists or any special interest. That's a clear 24-year record."
Except for that one missing year, apparently.