2008 History Archive:

John McCain - Dick Cheney - US - Iraq - Military - Media - Politicians - History - Book - Arizona - 2008 Election - "The Iraq Follies: Eighteen things you've already forgotten about the media's flawed coverage of Iraq." ... "In putting together my [Greg Mitchell] new book, So Wrong for So Long, on Iraq and the media, I revisited the good, the bad, and the ugly in war coverage from the run-up to the invasion through the five years of controversy that followed. Even though I monitored the coverage closely all along, I was continually surprised to come across once-prominent names, quotes, and incidents that had faded to obscurity. Here is a list of 18 of those nearly forgotten episodes, in roughly chronological order." ... "1) The day before the invasion, Bill O'Reilly said, "If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation; I will not trust the Bush administration again, all right?"" ... "3) After the fall of Baghdad [Iraq's capital], MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neocons now."" ... "4) The same day, Joe Scarborough, also on MSNBC, said, "I'm waiting to hear the words 'I was wrong' from some of the world's most elite journalists, politicians, and Hollywood types."" ... "5) The New York Times' Thomas Friedman wrote, "As far as I am concerned, we do not need to find any weapons of mass destruction to justify this war.... Mr. Bush doesn't owe the world any explanation for missing chemical weapons."" ... "14) On March 27, 2007, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain, referring to the supposed calm settling on Baghdad, said, "General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee." This turned out to be pure bunk, but McCain quickly visited Iraq to try to prove his overall point. There, the Arizona senator went from the ridiculous to the maligned, touring a Baghdad market and claiming all was safe—while troops surrounded him and helicopters twirled overhead." ... "18) Also in July 2007, an old clip of a C-SPAN interview with [Republican] Vice President Cheney from 1994 surfaced, in which he defended the decision not to depose Saddam Hussein during Gulf War I: "Once you got to Iraq and took it over…then what are you going to put in its place?…It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq." He explained, "And the question for the president…was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right."" -By Greg Mitchell -MotherJones.com

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Science - Military - Pills - History - San Diego - California - US - Iraq - Kuwait - "Gulf War Illness Strongly Linked to Chemical Exposure." ... "A new scientific review finds a strong association between exposure to certain chemicals and the Gulf War illness suffered by many veterans." ... "The class of chemicals, known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), are found in pesticides, nerve agents and in pills given to soldiers to protect against nerve agents. The review, which was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, looked at 115 papers on the topic." ... "Veterans of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War have a higher rate of "chronic multi-symptom health problems" than either non-deployed military personnel or those deployed in other regions. In fact, 26 percent to 32 percent of personnel deployed to the Persian Gulf during this period have chronic health problems, a range that may actually understate the magnitude of the problem, according to the study, published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." ... "Although the exact causes remain unknown, evidence is mounting to suggest that exposure to organophosphate and carbamate acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), including pyridostigmine bromide (PB), pesticides and nerve agents, may be responsible." ... "SOURCES: Joy Ray Miller, Pharm.D., assistant professor, pharmacy practice, Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Kingsville; March 10-14, 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" -By Amanda Gardner -HealthDay.com via -WashingtonPost

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US - Iraq - Military - Osama bin Laden - Terrorism - Intelligence - Archives - History - Declassification -  - "Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida." ... "An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network." ... "The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime." ... "The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaida before the invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the report." ... "[Republican] President Bush and his aides used Saddam's alleged relationship with al Qaida, along with Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, as arguments for invading Iraq after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." ... "Then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld claimed in September 2002 that the United States had "bulletproof" evidence of cooperation between the radical Islamist terror group and Saddam's secular dictatorship." ... "Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell cited multiple linkages between Saddam and al Qaida in a watershed February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council to build international support for the invasion. Almost every one of the examples Powell cited turned out to be based on bogus or misinterpreted intelligence." ... "As recently as last July, Bush tried to tie al Qaida to the ongoing violence in Iraq. "The same people that attacked us on September the 11th is a crowd that is now bombing people, killing innocent men, women and children, many of whom are Muslims," he said." ... "The new study, entitled "Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents", was essentially completed last year and has been undergoing what one U.S. intelligence official described as a "painful" declassification review." -By Warren P. Strobel -McClatchyDC.com

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"In the wake of the [Jack] Abramoff scandal, there's a greater-than-ever hesitancy among golfers to admit they play. [Republican lobbyist Jack] Abramoff is the former high-powered lobbyist who pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges involving fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. Luxury golf junkets to Scotland were among the things that got him in trouble." ... "For now, mum's the word among many D.C. golfers. Even Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a longtime player whose 14.5 Index hasn't been updated since 2000, declined to approximate his handicap, saying he hasn't been playing enough to have one. Same for [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon]) and [Arizona Democratic Representative] Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz. [Democratic-Arizona]). Freshman [Nevada Republican Representative] Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev. [Republican-Nevada]), a member of the Republican "Ryder Cup" team, also declined to reveal a handicap. [former Georgia Republican Representative] Newt Gingrich, a proud 47-handicapper as a new golfer in 2005, doesn't admit to playing, either."

Secretive - John McCain - John Hagee - Pat Robertson - Religious - Politicians - History - Arizona - 2008 Election - "McCain Courts Secret Radical Religious Conservative Group For Support In Presidential Bid." ... "Last month, hard-line conservative Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, announced his support for [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ [Republican-Arizona]) candidacy for president. Despite Hagee’s numerous bigoted remarks — including his claim that the Catholic church is “the Great Whore” and a “false cult system” — McCain said that he was “very honored” by the endorsement." ... "McCain is continuing his tradition of courting the bigoted right-wing fringe. This afternoon, McCain addressed the Council for National Policy (CNP) in New Orleans in a “make-or-break pitch” for support from the secretive, ultra-conservative group that describes itself as a “self-selected, conservative counterweight” against “liberal domination of the American agenda.” McCain advisor Charlie Black said McCain “was anxious to appear” in front of the group." ... "CNP was founded in 1981 by [Reverend] Rev. Tim LaHaye, “an early Christian conservative organizer and the best-selling author of the ‘Left Behind’ novels about an apocalyptic Second Coming,” and fellow Christian conservative Paul Weyrich. Like Hagee, the group and its members have at times expressed and encouraged radical and intolerant views:"

"– LeHaye once said that Catholicism is a “false religion” and called popes “antichrists.”" ... "– Weyrich has claimed that CNP is a group of “radicals working to overturn the present power structure in this country.”" ... "– A speaker received a standing ovation at one CNP meeting when he suggested that AIDS was a sign from God that homosexuality was an “abomination.”"

Illegal - Corporate - Government - Surveillance - Terrorism - Investigation - Consumer - Finances - Telephone - Internet - Data - Intelligence - Politics - Rights - History - Audit - Vt - "More FBI Privacy Violations Confirmed." ... "The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] acknowledged it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies." ... "Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, [FBI Director Robert] Mueller raised the issue of the FBI's controversial use of so-called national security letters [NSLs] in reference to an upcoming report on the topic by the Justice Department's inspector general." ... "An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600." ... "National security letters, as outlined in the USA Patriot Act, are administrative subpoenas used in suspected terrorism and espionage cases. They allow the FBI to require telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and other businesses to produce highly personal records about their customers or subscribers without a judge's approval." ... "Speaking before the FBI chief, [Vermont Democratic Senator and] Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. [Democratic-Vermont], urged Mueller to be more vigilant in correcting what he called "widespread illegal and improper use of national security letters."" ... ""Everybody wants to stop terrorists. But we also, though, as Americans, we believe in our privacy rights and we want those protected," Leahy said. "There has to be a better chain of command for this. You cannot just have an FBI agent who decides he'd like to obtain Americans' records, bank records or anything else and do it just because they want to."" -By Lara Jakes Jordan -AP via -SFGate.com 

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Dick Cheney - Corporate - Military - Government - KBR-Halliburton - Cayman Islands - United Arab Emirates (Dubai) - Secret - Iraq - Oil - Infrastructure - History - American - Workers - Health - Security - Legislation - Massachusetts - "Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore: Shell companies in Cayman Islands allow KBR to avoid Medicare, Social Security deductions." ... "Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp. [Corporation], has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven [Cayman Islands]." ... "More than 21,000 people working for KBR in Iraq - including about 10,500 Americans - are listed as employees of two companies that exist in a computer file on the fourth floor of a building on a palm-studded boulevard here in the Caribbean. Neither company has an office or phone number in the Cayman Islands." ... "The Defense Department has known since at least 2004 that KBR was avoiding taxes by declaring its American workers as employees of Cayman Islands shell companies, and officials said the move allowed KBR to perform the work more cheaply, saving Defense dollars." ... "But the use of the loophole results in a significantly greater loss of revenue to the government as a whole, particularly to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds." ... ""Failing to contribute to Social Security and Medicare thousands of times over isn't shielding the taxpayers they claim to protect, it's costing our citizens in the name of short-term corporate greed," said [Massachusetts Democratic] Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee who has introduced legislation to close loopholes for companies registering overseas." ... "With an estimated $16 billion in contracts, KBR is by far the largest contractor in Iraq, with eight times the work of its nearest competitor." ... "The [secret] no-bid contract it received in 2002 to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure and a multibillion-dollar contract to provide support services to troops have long drawn scrutiny because [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 until he joined the Republican ticket with [Republican] President Bush in 2000." ... "The largest of the Cayman Islands shell companies - called [SEII] Service Employees International Inc. [Incorporated, which is not associated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)], which is now listed as having more than 20,000 workers in Iraq, according to KBR - was created two years before Cheney became Halliburton's chief executive. But a second Cayman Islands company called Overseas Administrative Services, which now is listed as the employer of 1,020 mostly managerial workers in Iraq, was established two months after Cheney's appointment." ... "If KBR's American workers averaged even as much as $63,000 per year, they and KBR would have owed more than $100 million per year in Social Security and Medicare taxes, split evenly between them. Over the course of the five-year war, their tax bill would have been more than $500 million." ... "The real managers of Service Employees International work out of KBR's office in Dubai. KBR and Halliburton, which also moved to Dubai [an emirate of the United Arab Emirates], severed ties last year." -By Farah Stockman with contributions by Stephanie Vallejo and Matt Negrin -Boston/Globe 

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Homeowner - Equity - Accounting - "Homeowner equity is lowest since 1945." ... "Americans' percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, the Federal Reserve said Thursday." ... "Homeowners' portion of equity slipped to downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly U.S. [United States] Flow of Funds Accounts, and declined further to 47.9 percent in the fourth quarter — the third straight quarter it was under 50 percent." ... "That marks the first time homeowners' debt on their houses exceeds their equity since the Fed started tracking the data in 1945." ... "Home equity, which is equal to the percentage of a home's market value minus mortgage-related debt, has steadily decreased even as home prices jumped earlier this decade due to a surge in cash-out refinances, home equity loans and lines of credit and an increase in 100 percent or more home financing." -By J.W. Elphinstone -AP via -SFGate.com

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Barack Obama - Tim Russert - John McCain - John Hagee - Religious - Homosexual - Woman - Racist - Book - History - Media - Politics -  - 2008 Election - Illinois - Arizona - Arkansas - Texas - US - Israel - Germany- "Will MSNBC devote as much coverage to McCain's embrace of Hagee's support as it did to Obama's rejection of Farrakhan?" ... "Summary: On February 27, MSNBC devoted significant coverage to an exchange from the most recent Democratic presidential debate in which NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert repeatedly questioned [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama about praise he received from controversial minister Louis Farrakhan, whose statements Obama has denounced. The same day, Pastor John Hagee -- who has made controversial comments about homosexuality, Islam, Catholicism, and women -- endorsed [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain, who embraced Hagee's support. Hagee's endorsement and McCain's response to it raise the question of whether MSNBC will report on them as extensively as it did on Farrakhan's praise." ... "A March 7, 1996, article (accessed via the Nexis database) in the San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to "meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a 'slave sale,' an East Side minister said Wednesday." The Express-News reported:"

"Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church [in Texas], last week had announced a "slave sale" to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, "The Cluster."" ... "The item was introduced with the sentence "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone" and ended with "Make plans to come and go home with a slave.""

"To help students seeking odd jobs, his church newsletter, The Cluster, advertised a "slave" sale. "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone," it said. "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." Mr. Hagee apologized but, in a radio interview, protested about pressure to be "politically correct" and joked that perhaps his pet dog should be called a "canine American.""

"In his recent book "Jerusalem Countdown," Hagee wrote: "Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.""

US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Torture - Prison - Psychology - Book - Political - History - "How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib." ... "[Psychologist Philip] Zimbardo conducted a now-famous experiment at Stanford University in 1971, involving students who posed as prisoners and guards. Five days into the experiment, Zimbardo halted the study when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts." ... "His book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, explores how a "perfect storm" of conditions can make ordinary people commit horrendous acts." ... "Wired: You were an expert defense witness in the court-martial of Sgt. Chip Frederick, an Abu Ghraib guard. What were the situational influences in his case?" ... "Zimbardo: Abu Ghraib was under bombardment all the time. In the prison, five soldiers and 20 Iraqi prisoners get killed. That means automatically any soldier working there is under high fear and high stress. Then the insurgency starts in 2003, and they start arresting everyone in sight. When Chip Frederick [starts working at Abu Ghraib] in September, there are 200 prisoners there. Within three months there's a thousand prisoners with a handful of guards to take care of them, so they're overwhelmed. Frederick and the others worked 12-hour shifts. How many days a week? Seven. How many days without a day off? Forty. That kind of stress reduces decision-making and critical thinking and rationality. But that's only the beginning." ... "He [complained] to higher-ups on the record, "We have mentally ill patients who cover themselves with [excrement]. We have people with tuberculosis that shouldn't be in this population. We have kids mixed with adults."" ... "And they tell him, "It's a war zone. Do your job. Do whatever you have to do."" ... "Wired: How did what happened at Abu Ghraib compare to your Stanford prison study?" ... "Zimbardo: The military intelligence, the CIA and the civilian interrogator corporation, Titan, told the MPs [at Abu Ghraib], "It is your job to soften the prisoners up. We give you permission to do something you ordinarily are not allowed to do as a military policeman -- to break the prisoners, to soften them up, to prepare them for interrogation." That's permission to step across the line from what is typically restricted behavior to now unrestricted behavior." ... "In the same way in the Stanford prison study, I was saying [to the student guards], "You have to be powerful to prevent further rebellion." I tell them, "You're not allowed, however, to use physical force." By default, I allow them to use psychological force. In five days, five prisoners are having emotional breakdowns." ... "The situational forces that were going on in [Abu Ghraib] -- the dehumanization, the lack of personal accountability, the lack of surveillance, the permission to get away with anti-social actions -- it was like the Stanford prison study, but in spades." ... "Those sets of things are found any time you really see an evil situation occurring, whether it's Rwanda or Nazi Germany or the Khmer Rouge. " (1, 2) -By Kim Zetter -Wired 

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Prison - History - Race - Women - People - Money - Politics - "1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says." ... "For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report." ... "Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars." ... "Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34." ... "The report, from the Pew Center on the States, also found that only one in 355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 are behind bars but that one in 100 black women are." ... "With money from bonds and the federal government included, total state spending on corrections last year was $49 billion." -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes 

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Karl Rove - Political - Government - Computer - E-Mails - Communications - Archives - Laws - Presidential Records Act Law - Hatch Act Law - History - Data - Censorship - Investigation - "GOP Halts Effort to Retrieve White House E-Mails." ... "After promising last year to search its computers for tens of thousands of e-mails sent by [Republican President Bush] White House officials, the Republican National Committee has informed a House committee that it no longer plans to retrieve the communications by restoring computer backup tapes, the panel's chairman said yesterday." ... "The move increases the likelihood that an untold number of RNC [RNC=Republican National Committee=Republican Party] e-mails dealing with official White House business during the first term of the Bush administration -- including many sent or received by former [Republican President Bush] presidential adviser Karl Rove -- will never be recovered, said House Democrats and public records advocates." ... "Administration officials have acknowledged that Rove and many other White House officials routinely used RNC accounts for government business, despite rules [Laws: the Presidential Records Act Law and the Hatch Act Law] requiring that they conduct such business through official communications channels. The RNC deleted all e-mails until 2004, when it exempted White House officials from its e-mail purging policy." ... "About 80 White House aides used RNC accounts for official government business, committee staff members said. Rove, for example, sent or received 140,000 e-mails on RNC servers from 2002 to 2007, and more than half involved official ".gov" accounts, the panel has said." ... "The RNC dispute is part of a broader debate over whether the Bush administration has complied with long-standing statutory requirements to preserve official White House records -- including those reflecting potentially sensitive policy discussions -- for history and in case of future legal demands." ... "The committee is investigating allegations that vast stores of official Bush administration e-mails have also gone missing from the White House, which scrapped a [former Democratic President] Clinton-era archiving system and has struggled with data retention problems." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost

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John McCain - Jack Abramoff - Bob Riley - Tom DeLay - Bob Ney - Money - Politics - Investigation - Law - EMail - Alabama - Louisiana - Mississippi - Arizona - Texas - Ohio - History - 2002 Election - 2006 Election - 2008 Election - "McCain Withheld Controversial Abramoff Email." ... "In the 2006 Senate report concerning [Republican Lobbyist Jack] Abramoff's activities, which [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain spearheaded, the Arizona Republican conspicuously left out information detailing how Alabama [Republican Governor] Gov. Bob Riley was targeted by Abramoff's influence peddling scheme. Riley, a Republican, won election in November 2002, and was reelected in 2006." ... "In a December 2002 email [PDF] obtained by the Huffington Post -- which McCain and his staff had access to prior to the issuance of his report -- Abramoff explains to an aide what he would like to see Riley do in return for the "help" he received from Abramoff's tribal clients." ... "An official with the Mississippi Choctaws "definitely wants Riley to shut down the Poarch Creek operation," Abramoff wrote, "including his announcing that anyone caught gambling there can't qualify for a state contract or something like that."" ... "The note showed not only the reach of Abramoff, but raised questions about Riley's victory in what was the closest gubernatorial election in Alabama history." ... "And yet, despite the implications of the information, McCain and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee sat on the controversial portion of the email. According to an official familiar with the investigation, McCain also subsequently refused to make the email public after the report was released." ... "There was a brief footnote in the report that quoted William Worfel, former vice chairman of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, saying that Abramoff told the chief of a Mississippi tribe to spend $13 million "to get the governor of Alabama elected to keep gaming out of Alabama so it wouldn't hurt ... his market in Mississippi."" ... "But Riley's name and the details of what was being asked of him were not mentioned once in the 373-page document." ... "Indeed, as the Associated Press noted in 2006, McCain stayed deliberately agnostic as to Riley's involvement." ... ""Although Sen. McCain has long bragged of his role in the Abramoff investigation, he let [former Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay and the other members of Congress who were doing Abramoff's bidding completely off the hook. The sole exception was [former Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Ney, who served time in prison," Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington told the Huffington Post recently. "Sen. McCain knew what his colleagues were up to, he chose to take the easier path and give them a free pass."" -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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John McCain - Corporate - Politician - Government - Television - Media - Communications - Law - Pennsylvania - Arizona - Florida - Jet - Vicki Iseman - History- 2008 Election - "McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting: Broadcaster Recalls Urging FCC [Federal Communications Commission] Contact." ... "Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf." ... "Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania] television station." ... "Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably," Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. "The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."" ... "The recollection of the now-retired Paxson conflicted with the account provided by the McCain campaign about the two letters at the center of a controversy about the senator's ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde & Fay." ... "The McCain campaign said Thursday that the senator had not met with Paxson or Iseman on the matter. "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding," the campaign said in a statement." ... "But Paxson said yesterday, "I remember going there to meet with him." He recalled that he told McCain: "You're head of the Commerce Committee. The FCC is not doing its job. I would love for you to write a letter."" ... "The two letters he wrote to the FCC in 1999 while he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee produced a rash of criticism and a written rebuke from the then-FCC chairman, who called McCain's intervention "highly unusual."" ... "On [1999 Novemeber] Nov. 17, McCain sent a letter to FCC Chairman William E. Kennard saying, "I write today to express my concern about the Commission's continuing failure to act" on the three-station deal involving Paxson." ... "McCain had flown on Paxson's corporate jet four times to appear at [2000 Election] campaign events and had received $28,000 in campaign donations from Paxson and its law firm." ... "The second letter came on Dec. 10, a day after the company's jet ferried McCain to a Florida fundraiser aboard a yacht in West Palm Beach, Fla. [Florida.] The fundraiser was arranged by Hector Alcalde of Alcalde & Fay and was hosted by a cruise line that Alcalde had represented, Paxson said. Paxson said he attended the fundraiser." (1, 2, 3) -By James V. Grimaldi and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost

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John McCain - Rick Davis - Money - Politics - History -  - Telecommunications - Federal - Law - 2008 Election - Arizona - "CBS' Smith failed to challenge claim by McCain's campaign manager -- a former lobbyist -- that McCain "is probably most feared by every lobbyist"." ... "Summary: While discussing a New York Times article about [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's relationship with a telecommunications lobbyist, CBS Early Show host Harry Smith did not challenge McCain campaign manager Rick Davis when Davis asserted that McCain "is probably most feared by every lobbyist in this town of Washington"; he did not note that Davis is a registered lobbyist who, the Times reported, "represented companies" before McCain's [Senate Commerce] committee." ... "A July 11, 2007, Politicoarticle reported that Davis, who also served as McCain's campaign manager in 2000, "founded a lobbying firm -- Davis, Manafort Inc. -- which has made at least $2.8 million lobbying Congress since 1998." According to a disclosure report filed with the Senate, Davis registered to lobby the Senate from 1998 to 2005 for Davis Manafort. A March 2000 report by the Center for Public Integrity noted that Davis represented two telecommunication companies, COMSAT and SBC Communication, Inc., that "had major (and controversial) mergers pending before the Federal Communications Commission in 1999, and both mergers were approved (the Commerce Committee has legislative oversight authority, and therefore quite a bit of political influence, over the FCC [Federal Communications Commission])." A February 3, 2007, National Journal article (accessed via the Nexis database) reported that "Davis, a longtime lobbyist and financial consultant," is "on leave" from Davis Manafort to work for McCain's campaign." ... "Additionally, Davis served as the president of the Reform Institute, an institute that the Times wrote was founded by McCain "to promote his cause and, in the process, his career." A July 28, 2005, Roll Call article (accessed via Nexis) by staff writer Paul Kane reported that Davis, who had been earning "$110,000 a year," "dropped his title of Reform Institute president" in July 2005." -By Eric H. Hananoki -MediaMatters.org

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Mitt Romney - 2008 Election - History - Politics - "Romney spent $42.3m of own money." ... "Before abandoning his bid to become president, [former 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney put in at least $42.3 million of his own money, a big chunk of the $97 million he spent on the campaign." ... "The former Massachusetts governor's total self-financing puts him ahead of Steve Forbes, the publisher who spent $38 million on his unsuccessful run for the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] nomination in 1996, but shy of the $63.5 million that H. Ross Perot spent on his 1992 third-party presidential campaign." ... "Romney's total loan also equates to about $167,000 for each of the 253 delegates he won before suspending his campaign. By suspending his bid, Romney, who made an estimated $250 million as a venture capitalist, can keep raising money to possibly pay himself back." ... "Romney also reported raising $9.7 million last month, bringing his campaign total to $63.6 million." -BostonGlobe 

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John McCain - Vicki Iseman - Corporate - Government - Vacations - Jets - Real Estate - Television Networks - Media - Communications - Law - Politics - History - Phoenix - Arizona - 2008 Election - "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk." ... "Even as he [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain] has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards, his confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potentially embarrassing conflicts of interest." ... "Mr. McCain promised, for example, never to fly directly from Washington to Phoenix [Arizona], his hometown, to avoid the impression of self-interest because he sponsored a law that opened the route nearly a decade ago. But like other lawmakers, he often flew on the corporate jets of business executives seeking his support, including the media moguls Rupert Murdoch, Michael R. Bloomberg and Lowell W. Paxson, Ms. [lobbyist Vicki] Iseman’s client. (Last year he voted to end the practice.)" ... "Mr. McCain helped found a nonprofit group to promote his personal battle for tighter campaign finance rules. But he later resigned as its chairman after news reports disclosed that the group was tapping the same kinds of unlimited corporate contributions he opposed, including those from companies seeking his favor. He has criticized the cozy ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, but is relying on corporate lobbyists to donate their time running his presidential race and recently hired a lobbyist to run his Senate office. " ... "During Mr. McCain’s four years in the House [of Representatives], Mr. [Charles] Keating, his family and his business associates contributed heavily to his political campaigns. The banker gave Mr. McCain free rides on his private jet, a violation of Congressional ethics rules (he later said it was an oversight and paid for the trips). They vacationed together in the Bahamas. And in 1986, the year Mr. McCain was elected to the Senate, his wife joined Mr. Keating in investing in an Arizona shopping mall." ... "Mr. Keating had taken over the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and used its federally insured deposits to gamble on risky real estate and other investments. He pressed Mr. McCain and other lawmakers to help hold back federal banking regulators." ... "For years, Mr. McCain complied. At Mr. Keating’s request, he wrote several letters to regulators, introduced legislation and helped secure the nomination of a Keating associate to a banking regulatory board." ... "By early 1987, though, the thrift was careering toward disaster. Mr. McCain agreed to join several senators, eventually known as the Keating Five, for two private meetings with regulators to urge them to ease up." ... "When Lincoln went bankrupt in 1989 — one of the biggest collapses of the savings and loan crisis, costing taxpayers $3.4 billion — the Keating Five became infamous. The scandal sent Mr. Keating to prison and ended the careers of three senators, who were censured in 1991 for intervening. Mr. McCain, who had been a less aggressive advocate for Mr. Keating than the others, was reprimanded only for “poor judgment” and was re-elected the next year. " ... "A champion of deregulation, Mr. McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city, a crucial issue for Glencairn Ltd. [Limited], one of Ms. Iseman’s clients. He introduced a bill to create tax incentives for minority ownership of stations; Ms. Iseman represented several businesses seeking such a program. And he twice tried to advance legislation that would permit a company to control television stations in overlapping markets, an important issue for Paxson." ... "In late 1999, Ms. Iseman asked Mr. McCain’s staff to send a letter to the commission to help Paxson, now Ion Media Networks, on another matter. Mr. Paxson was impatient for F.C.C. approval of a television deal, and Ms. Iseman acknowledged in an e-mail message to The Times that she had sent to Mr. McCain’s staff information for drafting a letter urging a swift decision." ... "Mr. McCain complied. He sent two letters to the commission, drawing a rare rebuke for interference from its chairman." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn W. Thompson, David D. Kirkpatrick and Stephen Labaton with contributions by Barclay Walsh and Kitty Bennett -NYTimes 

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John McCain - Vicki Iseman - Corporate - Government - Television Stations - Media - Communications - Law - Politics - Jet - Travel - History - Arizona - Florida - Pennsylvania -