Look, I know that it's hard to believe a story about hypocrisy from the McCain campaign. Well, maybe it's hard to believe they haven't already run the Hypocrisy Well bone dry, and are now scraping out bits of bedrock when they keep dipping into it, but it's true!
Yesterday McCain declared war (*snicker*) on the New York Times for outing Rick Davis's ties. I guess this morning it will be Time magazine's turn. Or maybe it will be the gang over at AMERICABlog, because they seem to be the ones that have noted this little tidbit from a September 12 article about McCain selecting William Timmons to head his (*shudder*) transition team:
Let's let Time do the talking:
Timmons is the chairman emeritus of Timmons and Company, a small but influential lobbying firm he founded in 1975 shortly after leaving the White House. According to Senate records, he registered to lobby in 2008 for a wide range of companies and trade groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Medical Association, Chrysler, Freddie Mac, Visa USA and Anheuser-Busch.
His registrations include work on a number of issues that have become flashpoints in the presidential campaign. He has registered to work on bills that deal with the regulations of troubled mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, a bill to provide farm subsidies and bills that regulate domestic oil-drilling.
Ah but we're not to worry. There are the oft-cited "John McCain's Rules on Conflicts of Interest™" (and believe you me, he's an expert!)
Under the McCain campaign's conflict-of-interest rules, announced in May, lobbyists who volunteer for the campaign must disclose their clients, agree not to lobby the campaign or McCain's Senate office and refrain from "involvement in any campaign policy-making on the subjects for which they are registered."
You will of course join me in noticing that nowhere does it say they have to refrain from actually lobbying. They just can't lobby the McCain campaign, or advise it on policy-making decisions relevant to their lobbying.
Given how many pies Timmons has his fingers in, can he actually help the McCain campaign at all? Or is his contribution to the transition team (*gag*) to just sit there and keep his mouth shut?
It is good to see that the Traditional Media has picked up on this, and is starting to point out yet another glaring McCain hypocrisy. Here's Bloomberg News with some nice numbers:
Newly available congressional records show Timmons's firm received $260,000 this year before its lobbying activities were barred under terms of the government rescue of the failed mortgage giant. Timmons, 77, is listed as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac on the company's midyear financial-disclosure form.
While Republicans say Timmons is making plans for the transition if McCain wins in November, the campaign wouldn't confirm his role. Timmons didn't return a phone call seeking comment.
McCain has labeled Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as prime culprits in creating the financial storm that has roiled Wall Street and Washington.
``At the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,'' he said last week in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Funny how McCain claims that lobbyists are the center of the problem, when they're also at the center of his campaign! What a hypocritical assclown.