McCain's Lobbying Scandal Defense Falls Apart a Little More

Since the NYT story about John McCain and Vicki Iseman broke on Wednesday, there have been two angles to the controversy, one of which clearly looked stronger than the other: 1) McCain's alleged romance with this telecom lobbyist; and 2) McCain's professional efforts to help the lobbyist's client. The senator and his campaign have rejected both points.

The evidence pointing to the alleged adultery is still elusive, but the evidence that McCain has lied about his efforts on behalf of Iseman's client keeps piling up.

On Wednesday, the McCain campaign said, in writing, that "no representative of Paxson or Alcalde & Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter" to the FCC on its behalf. Yesterday, Newsweek reported that McCain gave a deposition in 2002 in which he contradicted his own claim. Today, the WaPo makes matters worse for McCain.

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from 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 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."