Most Americans are aware of the courageous service John provided as a naval aviator and POW . But few can fully appreciate how bad the egregious hospitality of the Hanoi Hilton was .His main concerns were for other POWs’ life threatening conditions and how he could help them is spite of the injuries he had received prior to and during his confinement.

To this day John’s truthfulness and dedication for what he believes in is demonstrated by his sincere and noble service as a Senator of the United States of America. We could do a whole lot worse than vote for John Mc Cain as our next president of the United States for every man, woman and child in our country regardless of their political affiliation.

God Speed John Mc Cain

The second issue is more complicated. It involves a $1 million loan McCain obtained from a Bethesda bank in January. The bank was worried about his ability to repay the loan if he exited the federal financing program and started to lose in the primary race. McCain promised the bank that, if that happened, he would reapply for matching money and offer those as collateral for the loan. While McCain’s aides have argued that the campaign was careful to make sure that they technically complied with the rules, Mason indicated that the question needs further FEC review.

So, he took out a loan and used the Federally matching funds (read: taxpayer money) to guarantee the loan.

Compare that to when Bill Clinton had a hit piece on him done by the NYT a few weeks ago concerning the deal in Kazakhstan. Most Democrats sat around and did nothing. Those on the left joined in on the attack.

And we wonder why Democrats lose elections.

But theives of money and influence peddlers generally make me gag.

McCain (a man who’s never held a real private sector job, nullifying his Republican bona fides) is both.

Don’t need a monk or a paragon of virtue. Would like to vote for a guy who has made a payroll and doesn’t steal from the public or trade on his office.

NOTE TO GOP: Let’s have Bloomberg…please?

And since when is a Senator doing special favors for a lobbyist a story?

Since St. NcCain, the straight-shooter, implied that he was gonna clean up the pig-sties in DC.

I don’t LIKE McCain. I would rather have this completely sink him.

My point is that we should learn from how they’re handling this – they’re actually getting a lot of sympathy right now.

Snitching on your client is the kind of thing that is a professional no-no, especially in the GOP where omerta is strictly enforced.

And since when is a Senator doing special favors for a lobbyist a story?

U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign today issued the following statement by Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker:

“It is a shame that the New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit and run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election.

“Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”

McCain was known to have affairs for years during his first marriage. He only became a “straight-shooter” after the Keating 5 scandal. There’s already evidence of his intervening in favor of this lobbyist’s interests, which is the public interest scandal in the current affair. No doubt, there’s a lot still to come out. But just as the gooper powers-that-be are now trying to paper over his character flaws, such as his known volcanic temper, it seems likely that they’re trying to paper over his carefully constructed image. I’m sure more will come out.

Contrast that with Obama’s mishandling of the Rezko story…and an Obama-McCain match up gives me a sinking feeling inside…

We’ve had most of the primaries, practice matches with sparring partners. Now we start the elimination matches. Then in the fall we’ll have the heavy-weight championship.

While far from being fluff, this story essentially alleges that McCain has skeletons in the form of suspicious behaviour, and by the way here’s one more. 3/4 of the NYT story reviews McCain’s past, as establishing a pattern, then presents the current issue of suspicion mostly based on the alleged perception of un-named sources with un-stated corroborations, along with a named source.

This is another milestone in the ramping up of campaign reporting, which will continue to gradually push the line further out on how much news media will compete for audience share.

We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.