"McCain defends pressing agency to act on license"
"by Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | February 22, 2008
WASHINGTON - Senator John McCain yesterday defended pushing a government agency to decide whether to issue a TV license to a major donor, asserting that the agency's former chairman had cleared his role as "appropriate."
But the Federal Communications Commission chairman involved in the case, William E. Kennard, actually wrote a letter to McCain at the time saying that his request for the agency to take action was "highly unusual" and that he was concerned that McCain's action would interfere with the agency's "due process."
Asked to explain the apparent contradiction, a McCain spokeswoman said yesterday that the Arizona senator was citing exoneration from a chairman who left the commission in 1997 - even though that was two years before McCain pushed the FCC to decide the case. The spokeswoman denied that McCain sought to mislead the public.
He's just as much a bullshitter as the rest!!!
Only has the "straight-talk" rep because of a shit MSM!
Angela Campbell, a Georgetown University law professor who represented opponents of the company trying to buy the TV station, said yesterday that McCain's statement that a former FCC chairman deemed his action appropriate was "very misleading" because the campaign was relying on someone who was not involved in the matter.
Also, Reed Hundt, the former FCC chairman cited as exonerating McCain, said in an interview that he shouldn't have been, notwithstanding a letter to the editor he wrote in 2000 praising the senator. "I can't speak to a thing," Hundt said yesterday. "I don't know anything about what he wrote to Kennard and not to me."
McCain's letter to the FCC, and the response by Kennard, are at the heart of an episode that has resurfaced after The
Even though the Times' hand was forced.
How come that doesn't merit a mention, readers?
With his wife, Cindy by his side, McCain said at a news conference in Ohio yesterday that the story was "not true" and that he did no special favors for the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, whom he called a friend. "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust," said the likely Republican presidential nominee.
Pretty broad statement that can't possibly be true, but...
The Times stood by the story, which was published online Wednesday night and in yesterday's newspaper and was discussed at length on political talk shows.
Conservatives railed against the Times, as journalism commentators debated the use of anonymous sources in the Times story, which said the unnamed top advisers were convinced that the relationship between McCain and Iseman had become romantic and intervened to keep them apart.
I wouldn't know; that stuff gets turned off as soon as I see it.
McCain's campaign yesterday called the story a smear and launched a fund-raising appeal based on it, saying it needed contributions to "counteract the liberal establishment and fight back against The New York Times."
Yeah, that's why John McCain Owes The New York Times a Thank You Card.
All FOOLEYS!!!!!
The underlying issue is about McCain's effort on behalf of one of his largest campaign benefactors,
At yesterday's news conference, McCain said it was "accepted practice" to fly on corporate aircraft and reimburse the companies. "Since then, the rules have been changed." he said. "It was something I supported."
Yeah, because other people do it, it's o.k.
How fucking LAME an excuse is that, straight-talk shitter?
As for his letter to the FCC on behalf of Paxson, McCain said, "I wrote a letter because the FCC, which usually makes a decision within 400 days, had gone almost 800 days," he said. "In the letter, I said, 'I am not telling you how to make a decision; I'm just telling you that you should move forward and make a decision on this issue.' And I believe that was appropriate." McCain then said, the "former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission at the time in 2000 said that that was more than an appropriate role for me to play as chairman of the [Commerce] Committee."
The senator has staked his campaign on his reputation for "straight talk" and his efforts to reform the campaign finance system. His dealings with the FCC in 1999 and 2000 were cited at the time as raising questions about whether he was too close to donors and their lobbyists. The letter from Kennard to McCain was first reported by the Globe in an article on Jan. 5, 2000, and it became a significant campaign issue.
Kennard declined comment yesterday. He served as FCC chairman from 1997 to January 2001 and works at The Carlyle Group, a Washington-based private equity firm. He is on the board of directors of The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe.
Oh my, how about the conflict of interest there!!!!
Goes from the FCC to Carlyle AND sits on the board of directors of the New York Times!!!
Talk about an INCESTUOUS RELATIONSHIP between government and media!
Was that flush sound the Times' credibility going down the crapper?
McCain's spokeswoman said yesterday that the senator was referring in his news conference to a letter written by Hundt, who was FCC chairman from 1993 to 1997.
After the reports in 2000 that Kennard had criticized McCain's letter on behalf of Paxson Communications, Hundt wrote a letter to the editor of The
The McCain campaign sent a copy of Hundt's letter yesterday to the Globe to explain why McCain felt exonerated, even while acknowledging that Hundt was not chairman at the time when McCain was urging that a decision be made on the Paxson case. "Senator McCain was clear when he indicated today that former chairman Hundt defended his submission of the letter," McCain spokeswoman Crystal Benton said yesterday.
McCain, however, did not mention Hundt or Kennard by name at his news conference. Hundt said yesterday that he was trying to defend McCain at the time from attacks from the campaign of George W. Bush and that he couldn't speak to what happened after he left the chairmanship.
McCain wrote to the FCC on Dec. 10, 1999, "expressing concern over the protracted pendency of the pending applications for assignment of licenses of WQEX-TV and WPCB-TV, Pittsburgh, Pa." He said he was not telling the FCC how to vote but asking "merely that you vote." He asked commissioners to disclose whether they had acted on the request or whether they planned to do so within days. Kennard replied by expressing concern that McCain's letter "comes at a sensitive time in the deliberative process as the individual commissioners finalize their views and their votes on this matter. I must respectfully note that it is highly unusual for the commissioners to be asked to publicly announce their voting status on a matter that is still pending."
Another commissioner, Gloria Tristani, wrote McCain in 1999 that she would not comply with his request to reveal whether she had acted on the request, "in order to preserve the integrity of our processes." Tristani said yesterday McCain's request was "unusual."
Shortly after McCain wrote his letter to the FCC, the commission voted 3 to 2 to allow Paxson to buy the television station, with Kennard and Tristani dissenting."
Straight talk SHITTER is more like it!
What a scum the Repug nominee has turned out to be!!!!
Thanks, MSM, for not telling us about this shit-swiller until it is too late.
Thanks, thanks a lot!
