John McCain held an out-of-the-gate 9am press conference this morning and emphatically denied the allegations in today’s New York Times story:
TOLEDO, Ohio — John McCain denied a romantic relationship with a female telecommunications lobbyist on Thursday and said a report by The New York Times suggesting favoritism for her clients is “not true.”
“I’m very disappointed in the article. It’s not true,” the likely Republican presidential nominee said as his wife, Cindy, stood alongside him during a news conference called to address the matter.
McCain described the woman in question, lobbyist Vicki Iseman, as a friend.
(…)
In its own follow-up story, The Washington Post quoted longtime aide John Weaver, who split with McCain last year, as saying he met with lobbyist Iseman and urged her to steer clear of McCain.
Weaver told the Times he arranged the meeting after “a discussion among the campaign leadership” about Iseman.
But McCain said he was unaware of any such conversation. “I never discussed it with John Weaver. As far as I know, there was no necessity for it … I did not know anything about it,” he said.
The Arizona senator said he won’t allow the report to distract him from his presidential campaign.
“I will focus my attention in this campaign on the big issues and on the challenges that face this country,” he said.
His wife also took issue with the newspaper, and said she trusts her husband.
“He’s a man of great character,” Cindy McCain said.
Addressing these allegations head-on was, I think, a smart move on McCain’s part. The Times story seems flimsy to begin with, and, by addressing it immediately, he only casts further doubt on the Times’ accuracy and motivations.
