vj2.thumbnail.jpgIs anyone else getting deja vu? Remember back in 2004, when 60 Minutes II aired a well-researched report about President Bush's dodgy National Guard service (or lack thereof)... which had one non-essential (but prominent) element which could not be verified?

In a remarkably well-coordinated swarm, the wingnuts blasted away at the authenticity of the poorly-vetted Killian memos until CBS backed down, threw Dan Rather under the bus, and no-one was ever allowed to speak of Bush's National Guard service ever again. He was immunized.

Well, here we are four years later, and the New York Times publishes a well-researched story about McCain's involvement in the Keating 5 scandal and his too-cozy relationships with lobbyists... including one young female lobbyist whose exact relationship to McCain is inconclusive, but who is nevertheless the centerpiece of the story.

Predictably, the conservative response is that there's no proof that McCain had an affair, and it's all innuendo based on anonymous sources. Yes, it's true that there's no proof of an affair, but the NYT never claimed that there was an affair, merely that McCain's aides were spooked by the appearance of impropriety.

The sources weren't all anonymous, either. "Former top strategist and now... informal campaign adviser" John Weaver states on the record that he personally told Iseman to stay away from McCain prior to his 2000 presidential run. And there's nothing shaky at all about McCain's participation in the Keating 5 scandal, or his corporate jet rides, or the letters he wrote to the FCC for Iseman's clients, or the fact that he has a lobbyist running his Senate office, another running his campaign, and at least one more advising it.

Still, the pushback strategy is clear: Just as they did with the Bush National Guard story, conservatives believe that if they destroy this one wobbly bit (L'affaire Iseman), the rest of the story will collapse with it, and no-one will ever be allowed to speak of McCain's coziness with lobbyists ever again. He will be immunized.

Fortunately, McCain is doing all he can to ensure that the Dan Rather gambit fails. Not only did he get caught lying about the FCC letters, but he appears to be staking his own credibility and integrity on that of his lobbyist advisers:

McCain... defended having lobbyists working for his campaign....

"These people have honorable records, and they're honorable people, and I'm proud to have them as part of my team," McCain told reporters following a town hall meeting in Indianapolis.

McCain practically begs the media to look into just how honorable his BFFs are. Kinda like when Gary Hart invited reporters to follow him around for a while, and we know how that turned out. Good thing for McCain that he gets along so well with the media, right?

Before McCain boarded his plane, reporters were asked to sit farther back than usual.... McCain... failed to offer his usual wave at reporters and opted to quickly take his seat. During the flight, the cabin was unusually quiet.... Near the end of the flight, [McCain aide Steve] Schmidt came back to the press cabin, where, with cameras off, he railed against the New York Times for publishing its story.

Smoooth. This is probably just a momentary glitch, and McCain's real love affair, the one with the media, will resume shortly. But if it doesn't, and the media stop bathing him in a Straight-Talking Maverick glow, McCain will be revealed as just another angry, corrupt old Republican who likes torture, war, and unlimited executive power. Good luck with that.