Replies to post #316474 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[ieddyi]

Yeah, and I assume you believe that Hillary and Bill should release their tax returns- and especially the books for their foundation to make sure that foreign money is not making it's way into her campaign fund

You DO support that right?

[ieddyi]

OOOOOPS, looks like he did exactly that in 2000

January 9, 2000
Responding to Criticism, McCain Releases Letters
By James Risen

Senator John McCain of Arizona released hundreds of letters today that he has sent to federal agencies under the jurisdiction of his powerful Senate committee, including more than a dozen involving the businesses of contributors to his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Mr. McCain said he was acting to defuse criticism of his interventions before the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of companies regulated by that agency, one of many supervised by the Commerce Committee, which he has headed since 1997.

In sheer volume, the release of more than two years of committee correspondence was both a remarkable display of openness and an effort to show that there was nothing unusual in what Mr. McCain has done by writing to agencies that regulate the companies whose employees have supported his campaign.

'If people view them in their entirety, they will see that I have acted on one fundamental principle, to protect the consumer,' the senator said today while on a campaign swing through South Carolina. 'The overwhelming majority of these communications are: 'Please act, please act.' '

...

The letters to the Federal Communications Commission show that in several instances, Mr. McCain sought help for companies in telecommunications and related fields that have also given to his presidential campaign.

But officials from both the McCain campaign and the Senate committee stressed today that the letters were sometimes sent without prompting from lobbyists and contributors, and that they reflected Mr. McCain's longtime policy positions. Some were also written jointly with other members of the Commerce panel, including Democrats.

Risen didn't brandish a smoking gun, and a month later the Times kissed and made up with a McCain The Maverick piece:

February 13, 2000
THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE SPECIAL INTERESTS; McCain Broke With His Party in Licensing Flap
By JOHN M. BRODER AND DON VAN NATTA JR.

I'm surprised that Gabriel Sherman of TNR missed all this backstory to the backstory. Here is how Stephen Labaton is presented in the current TNR story:

The McCain investigation began in November, after Rutenberg, who covers the political media and advertising beat, got a tip. Within a few days, Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet assigned Thompson and Labaton to join the project and, later, conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick to chip in as well. Labaton brought his expertise with regulatory issues to the team...

And a bit later:

Of the reporters in the room, Bennett knew Labaton the best. In the 1990s, Labaton had covered the Whitewater investigation, and Bennett viewed him as a straight-shooting, accurate reporter who could be reasoned with.

I would be shocked if Bennet was not also aware of Labaton's early work on the Paxson-McCain story.

So, let's try for a Big Finish - the Times dropped these torpedoes in the water in 2000 and misfired then; now they are back, with a piece heavy with innuendo and padded by chit-chat about the Keating case. But eight years ago they gave up on the ethical scandal, and their sourcing for the sex scandal probably would not pass muster at the National Enquirer.

Props to Greg Sargent, who correctly notes that if the Times wrote this thin a story about a Democrat, lefties would leap from tall buildings.