McCain Scandal Brewing?

The New York Times has posted an article, being hotly reported on MSNBC, that might have Republican presidential candidate John McCain in hot water:

Early in Senator John McCain's first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

The article goes on to say that both McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman deny any romantic relationship, and describes McCain's fall and redemption from the S&L scandal. One on-the-record source, John Weaver, acknowledges attempts to separate the two, but attributes it to concerns over the appearance of unethical political conduct, not a romantic relationship.

Update: Drudge had this in December:

Just weeks away from a possible surprise victory in the primaries, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz has been waging a ferocious behind the scenes battle with the NEW YORK TIMES, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, and has hired DC power lawyer Bob Bennett to mount a bold defense against charges of giving special treatment to a lobbyist!

But the anonymous sources tell a different story, later in the article:

In interviews, the two former associates said they joined in a series of confrontations with Mr. McCain, warning him that he was risking his campaign and career. Both said Mr. McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Ms. Iseman. The two associates, who said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.

A story like this requires a lot of reading between the lines, which puts it, in my view, in dicey journalistic territory. To level devastating, yet ambiguous, allegations at a Presidential candidate using anonymous sources doesn't pass the journalistic test. If these two sources observed specific behavior that led them to conclude that a romantic relationship existed, the reporters should have either made them describe it, or leave it out of the story.

The only other explanation is that The Times has more, but is holding it back, perhaps to protect the famously well-liked-by-the-press McCain. Either way, shame on them. If you have a story, report the story. If not, dig a little deeper.

What if these two anonymous insiders had a "feeling" that McCain had murdered someone? Would The Times have printed that with no corroboration, and nothing to corroborate? I "have a feeling" the Jets are going to win the Super Bowl, should I call the New York Times sports desk?

This story is already exploding all over the internet, and will no doubt be flogged to death, at least for a few days. Hopefully, the story of the story will get some attention, too.

Update: Also from Drudge's Dec. 20 report:

The drama involves a woman lobbyist who may have helped to write key telecom legislation. The woman in question has retained counsel and strongly denies receiving any special treatment from McCain.

Now, Drudge's story is even more thinly sourced than The Times', except, A. He's Matt Drudge, not the New York Times, and B. the Times story now partially corroborates Drudge. If what Drudge says is true, then double the shame on the Times for holding the story.