Rough Week Continues for McCain

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2008— -- Just when John McCain may have been breathing a sigh of relief, his campaign woke up to a new round of negative headlines -- this time, suggesting that in defending himself against The New York Times this week, he had misrepresented some facts.

In an effort to refute the Times story implying the senator had an inappropriate relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, McCain's campaign stated unequivocally on Thursday that he had never held a meeting with Iseman and her client, broadcaster Lowell Paxson, about letters he sent to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf in 1999.

But it turns out, McCain did sit down with the two of them, and he himself admitted to the meeting in a 2002 deposition.

Today, McCain's lawyer says the campaign got its facts about the meeting wrong, but insists the underlying point remains the same.

"He didn't do anything improper," McCain attorney Bob Bennett said. "Members of Congress all the time make calls to nudge action. Where it gets to be improper is when you start to weigh in too heavily as to what the action should be."

In this case, Bennett said, McCain explicitly did not do that. In the letters, McCain urged the FCC to come to a decision regarding Paxson's attempt to acquire a Pittsburgh television station, but he did not press them to rule one way or the other.

All in all, it's been been one of the roughest weeks of McCain's political career. So far, he appears to have survived it -- and in some ways, may have emerged even stronger. Many conservatives are now rallying behind him in opposition to the Times.

Conservative talk radio has been come down particularly hard on the Times: Rush Limbaugh this week called the story "drive-by media."

Today, the Times's own public editor criticized his paper's piece, writing: "If you cannot provide readers with some independent evidence, I think it is wrong to report the suppositions or concerns of anonymous aides."

But there may also be lingering scars for McCain.