In trying to explain away the Vicki Iseman scandal, the McCain campaign said the following:

“No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay discussed with Senator McCain the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeding regarding the transfer of Pittsburgh public television station (WQED) to Cornerstone Broadcasting and Cornerstone Broadcasting’s television station (WPCB) to Paxson. No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding.”

[Emphasis Added]

Here’s McCain’s testimony from a 2002 deposition on the issue:

Q: “Do you know were they got the information?”
McCain: “No. But I would add, I was contacted by Mr. Paxson on this issue.”

Q: “You were?”

McCain: “Yes.”

Q: “Can you tell us what you said and what he said about it?”

McCain: “That he had applied to purchase this station and that he wanted to purchase it. And that there had been a numerous year delay with the FCC reaching a decision. And he wanted their approval very bad for purposes of his business.I said I would be glad to write a letter asking them to act. But I will not write a letter, I cannot write a letter asking them to approve or deny, because then that would be an interference in their activities. I think everybody is entitled to a decision. But I can’t ask for a favorable disposition for you.”

Q: “Did you speak to the company’s lobbyist about these matters?”

McCain: “I don’t recall if it was Mr. Paxson or the company’s lobbyist or both.”

Q: “But you did speak to him?”

McCain: “I’m sure I spoke with him, yes.”

[Emphasis Added]

McCain just got caught in a lie. Whether or not he lied in 2002 or is lying now doesn’t matter–what matters is that, in either case, John McCain lied to the American people.

The sex part of this scandal doesn’t really have legs (and it shouldn’t), but the corruption part does. It tarnishes McCain’s image as a clean government crusader and shows him for what he really is–a career politician with Washington in his blood, a man who isn’t above pulling strings for special interests and lying about it.

This news does not bode well for him. Period.

[Newsweek covers this story here]

UPDATE: Lowell “Bud” Paxon himself contradicts McCain’s statement:

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.”

[Emphasis Added]

Also, McCain won’t be helped by the news that top adviser Charlie Black–who’s also a lobbyist–does much of his lobbying work while on the McCain campaign bus:

Of all the lobbyists involved in the McCain campaign, the most prominent is Black…even as Black provides a private voice and a public face for McCain, he also leads his lobbying firm, which offers corporate interests and foreign governments the promise of access to the most powerful lawmakers. Some of those companies have interests before the Senate and, in particular, the Commerce Committee, of which McCain is a member.

Black said he does a lot of his work by telephone from McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus.