Spin Cycle

It seems mandatory this morning to have an opinion on the NYT story about McCain and the lobbyist. McCain has a press conference scheduled at 9 am. Probably worth watching, right?

The most riveting part of the story is, obviously, about a possible affair 8 to 10 years ago. But it is based entirely on the fact that aides thought there might be an affair, without specifics as to why they thought it. The lobbyist looks quite attractive in the picture, so that's the other, unstated, piece.

But McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman both deny it. So, how far does a story about a possible affair go when no one actually says -- even anonymously -- that there was an affair? Typically, not far, unless pictures or diaries or something surface.

The other hard edge in the story is at the bottom, but it's curiously limited:

Just six grafs on several things McCain did as a legislator that affected Iseman's clients, and four plane trips. The most significant one, a letter he wrote asking the FCC to hurry up a decision, came out in his 2000 campaign. The rest, the Times seems to tell us wasn't inconsistent in any obvious way with McCain's broader positions on issues. The plane trips are a sentence.

So: It doesn't seem to believe in itself as a quid pro quo story.

So, it positions itself as a story about McCain's integrity or belief in his own integrity blinding him to appearances that trouble others. But that's just a frame reporters build to create a rationale for a story that they don't quite have. And how bad are the appearances if there isn't more evidence of favors?

It's easy to see why the Times struggled with this. On the one hand, the implications go further than the paper can prove. On the other, if the guy is running for president as Mr. White Knight, how can you not let the voters know this stuff? It's the job of the press.

Short term, it probably helps McCain. The affair part will fade without corroboration, and he can run against the liberal media, which the conservative base probably hates more than him. Long term, it festers: All of us will certainly be looking at Iseman's clients, her firm's clients, the telcom industry, contributions, legislation.

Who's to say the Times found everything there is?