The Spotlight Is Getting a Little Brighter

The media and candidate desperation meters are starting to ratchet up a little bit in the presidential election.

First, Michelle Obama is getting a lesson in being in the fishbowl. Speaking her mind is probably a very good thing in her job. However, when everything you say is sliced-and-diced in the media and by the other candidates, you have to be a little more careful. I wonder who is going to have the pleasure of giving her the STFU talk?

The NY Times dug up an old story about John McCain and whatever relationship (business or private) he had with a telco lobbyist. The article is here and here is his rebuttal (am I fair or what?). Once you get over the creep factor of their age difference for the personal part, you have to wonder why McCain would be so tight with a lobbyist from an industry that is being regulated by a committee he chairs.

To his credit, McCain publicly proclaims his freedom from lobbyists with the zeal of a reformed smoker. This, of course, comes from him getting burned in the Keating 5 scandal. This has led to his effort to pass campaign reform--something for which I admire him very much. Any time you can pass legislation that pisses off single issue lobbying groups on the right AND the left, you must have done something good.

I'm sure the NY Times documented and researched the story very well. But, one has to ask, why do they now print a story that is essentially 8 years old? Who pitched it to them? Who was/were the two unnamed sources who came forward and why did they now? I doubt that their motives were pure.