Ah, John. You are a tricky bugger, I give you that. Just look at what you said to Charlie Gibson last night on the whole William Ayers affair:
"[Ayers] wasn't a guy in the neighborhood. [Obama] launched his political career in his living room, in Mr. Ayers' living room. And I don't care about two washed-up old terrorists that are unrepentant about trying to destroy America. But I do care, and Americans should care, about his relationship with him and whether he's being truthful and candid about it..."
"I think it's a factor about Senator Obama's candor and truthfulness with the American people...I don't care about Mr. Ayers, who on Sept. 11, 2001, said he wished he'd have bombed more. I don't care about that. I care about [Obama] being truthful about his relationship with him. And Americans will care."
Fascinating.
First, let's clear up the clear BS right here and now, John. You DO care about Ayers' background. And you want people to care. That's the whole point of the line of attack. Don't feed us this nonsense:
"I don't care about two washed-up old terrorists..."
"I don't care about Mr. Ayers, who on Sept. 11, 2001, said he wished he'd have bombed more..."
If you didn't "care" about that part of this non-story, you wouldn't have to keep bringing it up. No, you care about those little nuggets because the whole point of this thing is smear, via guilt through association, Barack Obama and paint him as a terrorist sympathizer. Hence why your running mate, Caribou Barbie, likes to say that Obama "palls around with terrorists."
But...(and I can't believe I'm saying this), let's give you the benefit of the doubt. Let's say your "concern" is just all about Obama's truthfulness and candor about his relationship to Ayers. Yes, let's talk about that. Never mind the fact that Obama was 8 years old when Ayers was out bombing. Never mind the fact that Obama has answered this over, and over, and over.
But if you want to talk about truthfulness and candor in Obama's relationships with people, I have two words for you:
Vicki Iseman.
You see, John, given your track record over the course of this campaign, I don't think you have been truthful or candid about the full extent of your relationship with Ms. Iseman, a lobbyist who had unusual access to your Senate office, and much more recently than Sen. Obama's dealings with William Ayers.
Back in February, you said this:
"I've served this nation honorably for more than half a century," said McCain, a four-term Arizona senator and former Navy pilot. "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
And at the time, everybody took you at your word, including one of your opponents:
McCain's remaining rival for the Republican nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, called McCain "a good decent honorable man" and said he accepted McCain's response.
"I've campaigned now on the same stage or platform with John McCain for 14 months. I only know him to be a man of integrity," Huckabee said in Houston. "Today he denied any of that was true. I take him at his word. For me to get into it is completely immaterial."
Seems to me that a lot of your friends in the media, several months removed from this story, would disagree with Governor Huckabee right now, in calling you a honorable man and all that. In fact, Joe Klein and gang have said as much.
And I don't particularly care whether or not you were having an affair with Ms. Iseman, a blonde 30 years younger than you, even though you've got an extensive history of catting around...no, sir, I don't care about that at all
(SIDEBAR: See what I did there, Sen. McCain? I'm standing up for you like you stand up for Obama when you say you don't care about Ayers! Nifty trick, isn't it?)
But I would like to hear more about this:
The stories also allege that McCain wrote letters and pushed legislation involving television station ownership that would have benefited Iseman's clients.
In late 1999, McCain twice wrote letters to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Florida-based Paxson Communications — which had paid Iseman as its lobbyist — urging quick consideration of a proposal to buy a television station license in Pittsburgh. At the time, Paxson's chief executive, Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, also was a major contributor to McCain's 2000 presidential campaign.
Because, I dunno...I think you just aren't being truthful or candid about it when you say "you've never violated the public trust" (especially given the extensive history we already know about with a guy named Charles Keating).
And that's the thing, John. It's really not about truth and candor. Because if the expectation is that the voters just take you at your word about Vicki Iseman, then maybe, just maybe, you should extend the same courtsey to Sen. Obama, and take him on his word about William Ayers.
That would be the honorable thing to do, after all. And the classy thing to do.
Maybe that's why you haven't heard Sen. Obama asking about Vicki Iseman.
Because he's actually demonstrating the honor John McCain claims to embody.