McCain Caught Lying About Meeting With Broadcaster Paxson And Vicki Iseman

[thepurpose]

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson today 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 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, 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 today. "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 McCain about two letters at the center of a controversy about the senator's ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde & Fay.

A statement issued by the McCain campaign yesterday said 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 statement said.

McCain attorney Robert Bennett played down the contradiction between the campaign's written answer and Paxson's recollection.

"We understood that he did not speak directly with him . Now it appears he did speak to him. What is the difference?" Bennett said. "McCain has never denied that Paxson asked for assistance from his office. It doesn't seem relevant whether the request got to him through Paxson or the staff. His letters to the FCC concerning the matter urged the commission to make up its mind. He did not ask the FCC to approve or deny the application. It's not that big a deal."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022202634_pf.html

[WCGreen]

1. He's either going senile or a liar....

Take your pick America...

[ORDem]

2. I dunno. I think I'm with the Rude Pundit on this one. :)

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/ - See 2/21 post.

:kick: