Public Broadcasting Activists Refute McCain Campaign ‘Facts’ on FCC Letters
A public broadcasting activist is accusing Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign of lying in its statements rebutting last week’s New York Times story about McCain’s connections to Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman.
After the story broke, the McCain campaign distributed a lengthy document stating that the senator’s commerce committee staff “met with public broadcasting activists from the Pittsburgh area” who opposed a controversial license swap involving Iseman’s client, Paxson Communications, before it sent two letters to the Federal Communication Commission urging the commissioners to vote on the issue.
“It never happened,” said Jerold Starr, who led the grassroots opposition to the deal as the co-chairman of the Save Pittsburgh Public Television Campaign. “Moreover, we had no idea that McCain had any interest in our local matter.”
Starr’s co-chair on the campaign, Linda Wambaugh, said that she and Starr handled all the lobbying for campaign.
“We were it. Anything would have come through us,” said Wambaugh. “There was absolutely no contact whatsoever — no meetings, no phone calls, no correspondence.”
The McCain response document also claimed that both Paxson’s lobbyists and the public broadcasting activists “expressed to staff members their frustration that the proceeding had been before the FCC for over two years. Both parties asked the staff to contact the FCC regarding the proceeding.”
“That’s a bold-faced lie,” said Starr, who wrote about his experience leading the campaign in his 2000 book “Air Wars.” “The longer it took, the better our chances were. It meant that the FCC was paying serious attention to our complaint.”
The McCain campaign questioned how Starr would be able to remember every meeting from nine years ago, though it says its own statement was based on the recollections of the Commerce Committee staff at the time.
The McCain letters, sent on Nov. 17 and Dec. 10 of 1999, came weeks before Paxson’s deal to swap licenses with religious broadcaster Cornerstone Communications was set to expire.
Angela Campbell, a Washington lawyer who represented the Pittsburgh activists, says the timing of the letters was “clearly in Paxson’s interest,” although the letters included a disclaimer stating that the senator took no position on the vote.
Questions have been raised about other statements contained in the McCain response to the Times story over the past few days. Newsweek.com reported on Friday that a 2002 deposition indicated that McCain recalled discussing the Pittsburgh deal with Lowell “Bud” Paxson prior to sending the letters — an apparent contradiction of the campaign’s statement that the senator never personally discussed the matter with Paxson or his lobbyists.
Paxson told the Washington Post on Saturday that he recalled discussing the matter with McCain in the senator’s office weeks before the letters were sent. Another Paxson lobbyist, Dean Goodman, later told the Associated Press that he doubted Paxson’s recollection.
© 2008 ABC News
Is it just me, or do others find it hard to understand who is who and who said/did what? More to the point: Who cares?! Lord knows I’m not defending McCain, nor would I ever vote for him, but can’t we focus on more substantive issues? For instance, there’s barely a word written about Congressional races. That branch, IMO, is of far greater importance than any presidency and is sorely in need of a major overhaul.
rickg, the DNC is quietly purging progressives by drowning their campaigns in the bathtub. It is strongly backing their opponents. Spend your money wisely.
A McCain presidency would not be in our best interest, with his endless war, tax cuts for the rich, and his admission that he doesn’t really understand the domestic economy. So who would he pick for economic advisers? Seems a fair question, since he can’t propose a domestic policy himself, not having one aside from increasing the wealth of the wealthy.
Aside from focusing on more substantive issues, the media doesn’t want to and the Democrats appear to be under a compulsion to lose even a slam-dunk election. They just might succeed at it, taking their nominee down with them. The only thing they really car about is getting a bunch of neocon Democrats in Congress which is where the moolah is to be found.
kathyodat
kathyodat
rickg said here that “who care” and that we should focus on the Congressional races in 2008.
Sure, - he is right– I here in my area am working on my Congressional race which happens to be important but that is not tru everywhere.
The Presidential race is important ALL OVER!!! As we see from bush, whoever is at the head of the executive is CRITICAL!!
I am alarmed that I am just the third person even making a comment here about McCain.
I appreciate it that an activist stood up and corrected McCain about what he did nor did not do in 1999. The whole idea of consolidation of over 1000 radio stations down to a handful was of HUGE consequence!!
That Bill Clinton as well as John MCain helped make this happen — that sends a signal that these two do not have the kind of change in mind that the rest of us want to see:
A Change to empower the Middle Class as well as the lower class. A society cannot survive as a democracy when the middle class is robbed and all the taxes are sent upstairs.
Howard Dean said it first– we need to sustain the Middle Class.
That is where Obama comes in — good for him.
John “Straight Lies Express” Dawg is a damn liar, and about something that’s really important, whether fewer and fewer people get a complete stranglehold on US media to keep us from learning what the hell is really going on.
It’s unwelcome reality that “Americans” are so self-centered that they prioritise their so-called personal liberties over the urgency of needing to:
*) stop the the whole GWoT;
*) to restore Kosovo to being what it’s supposed to be, a province of Serbia;
*) stopping the covert US wars, much through proxies, but nonetheless US-driven and with forceful measures used when there’s opposition, in several African countries;
*) restoring President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the presidency of Haiti;
*) stopping US-and-Israel’s hell reined upon Palestinian and Lebanese populations;
*) etc.; and,
*) for all of these crimes to be addressed via LAW.
Now, if we consider those extreme crimes as higher priority, then we SEE that there is not a single candidate presently running for either the Repub. or Dem. Parties who will provide even an ounce of honourable and truly morally spined service as president; they can’t bring themselves to do it as senators and members of Congress, and they surely are not going to do it if elected to the presidency.
This is my order of prioritisation, and only adhering to it could I have any care at all about the USA’s population, for I’ll otherwise see it or them as nothing but a bunch of sons of not God, but of the father of lies, rape, murder, pillage, evil-based denials, and so on. Who of 6bn people on this planet cares about “Americans” when all they represent around the world is reign of hell on earth! Only “Americans” and anyone profiting from them care about “Americans”.
May your economy crash until you’re buried so deep beneath the ruins that it’ll take centuries to dig you out. Either that, or start showing that you care a LOT more than mostly about yourselves. That ‘mostly’ is so much of a ‘mostly’ matter, that it’s what really stands out; nothing good, only selfishness.
Your economy is bs, compared to the value of HUMANITY, and poverty is a good and serious teacher; really helping to instill some real [humility]. Better off poor, than to side with evil.
“Americans”, wittingly and not, side with the evils, for they prioritise their own selfishness over HUMANITY.
This is the strong impression I get from people whining about the US economy’s downfall at times like the ones we’re living in and in which the USA is the most extreme international terrorist, huge-mass murderer, environmental and social-order destroyer, etc., in the world.
Mike Corbeil, your outrage is justified, and I am not proud of my country’s behavior. Starting with the genocide of it’s own indigenous people, it has never behaved toward others in a way I can respect. It may sound contradictory to love a country whose behavior you abhore, but after all, I love my children even when I find their behavior unacceptable. So it is with my country. My problem is that I know I benefit from it’s egregious behavior and if I could put my actions in line with my beliefs, I would refuse the lifestyle it affords me. By American standards I am low income, but by international standards, I am well off, and I know well that others pay for that. It doesn’t feel good. While I’m not willing to put on a hair shirt, I want to support candidates who work for fair trade and equal rights.
Unfortunately the majority of Americans don’t support your priorities, and most people do vote in their self interest regardless of the cost to others and even the loss of lives. They don’t realize that on a spiritual level the price they pay is as high as to those they hurt.
We are one world. I don’t know when people are going to figure that out, probably not until a calamity hits that affects all of us equally.
kathyodat
Mike Corbeil’s outrage may be SOMEWHAT justified, kathyodat, but the level of his venomous speech is beyond rational. I love my country. I don’t always love its behavior (last 7 yrs as one major example) - but Mike Corbeil - since you hate America so much, feel free to stay clear of its shores. We have problems. Whatever country you live in also has problems. America remains an experiment - we are young - we have work to do.
Let us know your address. We will send the tens of thousands of immigrants literally dying to get to America to your door.
The “hero” McCain is one big ugly lie!
He bombed civilian targets in Vietnam which under international law makes him a war criminal.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/06/6878/
And according to intelligence sources, he “cooperated” with his captors in exchange for special treatment.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=60020
” According to T, they reveal that McCain had made an “accommodation” with his captors, and in exchange, T’s father saw that he was provided with an apartment in Hanoi and the services of two prostitutes. Upon returning to his prison cell, he would say he had been held in solitary confinement. That may be why so many of his fellow prisoners said later they saw so little of him at Hoa Loa.
In other words, the CIA has in its possession the notes and reports of John McCain’s interrogators at the Hanoi Hilton, in both the original Vietnamese and translated Russian, showing collaboration with his Communist captors.”
Mc Cain’s dishonor is endless as he is very tight with Joe (Iraq War Resolution) Lieberman and Zionist neocons.
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/24299.php
Pax !
The finer points of the lie are not of intrinsic interest. But what is of great importance is that there is a clear indication that (a)McCain is beholden to lobbyists who do him favors (big contributions, rides on private jets); (b) McCain has terrible judgment, and is insensitive to the existence of conflicts of interest that require him to recuse himself, or simply step aside; (c) McCain is spinning a tale about being a man of integrity and the ’straight-talk express’ when, in fact, that is not a mere exaggeration but a blatant lie.
I understand that all politicians prevaricate and spin. But let’s remember who and what McCain is, and what he stands for. Having a president who embraces the disastrous foreign policy of the past 7 years, one who is virulently anti-choice and determined to put more right-wing ideologues on the Supreme Court, one who does not have a clue about economic matters, and one who is famous for his bad temper would be a dreadful mistake of the first order.
Blowing the whistle on McCain is both justified and necessary.
If anyone wishes to see more clear cut information on these charges they should be looking at the Democracy Now web site for the interview with Campbell.
I think the discussion there is clearer and more to the point that the letters McCain sent to the FCC were not disclosed to the activists until the day of the FCC decision.
Behind the John McCain Lobbying Scandal: A Look at How McCain Urged the Federal Communications Commission to Act on Behalf of Paxson Communications
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/22/behind_the_john_mccain_lobbying_scandal
Kathyodat:
I don’t often post on CD because there are so many others who express their thoughts so much better, and I keep busy just reading them.
Your post in answer to Mike Corbeil was one such example–so beautifully written and expressed, your evident compassion and insight brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
Juliann:
Respectfully, those immigrants that you mentioned who are dying to get to the US are coming in large part because of US foreign policy (corporate driven) which has been and continues to cause unspeakable poverty and deprivation in their own countries. The flood of Mexican immigrants is driven by the conditions wrought by NAFTA, and since the passage of CAFTA in most Central American countries, that flood will only increase, bringing more citizens of those countries.
I’d like to recommend reading John Perkins’ new book, The Secret History of the American Empire. It is painful to read but offers an education into US policies that every US citizen needs to have. Also, go to the democracynow.org website for an excellent interview with John Perkins–he has been on DN several times, but I believe that the interview in which he discusses this new book was in June of 2007.
Afterwards I think you will be able to understand the rage of people like M. Corbeil, and the anguish of kathyodat, regarding the role the US plays in the world. The past seven years have been unusually in-your-face foreign policy, but the same basic policies have been going on for a long, long time, only with a kinder, gentler facade, to use poppy bush’s words.
Running a war criminal for president is typically republican.
So the McCain camp displayed favoritism toward Vicki Iseman, who was lobbying for them. Isn’t that what politics is?
I don’t support McCain but this is part of the real world. Favoritism holds hands with Politics. It always has. It’s not just McCain either. All politicians tip their hats toward their supporters. There is a RIVER of under-the-table money flowing in Washington. So pointing the finger at McCain and accusing him of favoring a lobbyist is quite simply a joke.
John McCain really is George Bush2: a habitual liar.
John McCain is a demented maniacal liar.
He is dangerous…quick to temper and duplicit as hell.
John McCain is a dangerous maniacal liar.
He is quick to temper and duplicit as hell.
freeforall, thank you for your generous words. I recognize your username, and without specifically recalling particular posts, have a good impression of your comments (even before the latest above).
kathyodat