Newsweek Confirms the NY Times Rick Davis Story

So much for the howls of outrage from John McCain and his sniveling weasel of a campaign chair. This is particularly lovely:

The two sources, who requested anonymity discussing sensitive information, told NEWSWEEK that Davis himself approached Freddie Mac in 2006 and asked for a new consulting arrangement that would allow his firm to continue to be paid. The arrangement was approved by Hollis McLoughlin, Freddie Mac's senior vice president for external relations, because "he [Davis] was John McCain's campaign manager and it was felt you couldn't say no," said one of the sources. [McLoughlin did not return phone calls].

(Emphasis mine.) McCain claims he's going to "clean up Washington" while he proves how corrupt and lacking in judgment he is on a daily basis now. He's running around trying to link Obama to this mess with the silliest of "six degrees of separation" rationales, while his own campaign manager was selling his access to these very firms? How the hell can anyone who claims to be conservative vote for this guy?

Oh, and here's what he said about Davis before this story broke:

When asked about his own campaign manager's associations with the mortgage giants, McCain, in an interview with CNBC Sunday night, said that Davis "has had nothing to do" with the Homeownship Alliance since it disbanded and "I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it."

You'll be "glad"? Really? Does that mean that, for once, we'll be spared your petulant whining about how the "media is out to get you" -- which constantly reminds me of one of my sons trying to blame his brother instead of taking responsibility for his own actions? Yeah, I know, probably not.

NY Times: McCain's Campaign Manager Received $15,000 Per Month from Freddie Mac - Even During Election Campaign

So Rick Davis wants to whine like a baby about how "biased" the NY Times is? They're not going to be bullied by him, and hey, they don't need to be biased when the facts are on their side:

WASHINGTON — One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

The disclosure undercuts a statement by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.

Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis & Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.

McCain's propaganda campaign (I'm no longer calling it a presidential campaign) seems to shoot itself in the foot on a daily basis now. I'm sure the spin on this one will be MOST amusing.