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.

More Random Thoughts from the Internals on the Newsweek Poll

More quickie analysis from the latest Newsweek poll...

1. McCain has 91% of Republicans, Obama has only 85% of Democrats. This is not great news for McCain, but I'm not sure Obama can capitalize on the extra potential for him to draw Dems, since a big chunk of those are single-issue voters or racists. Still, that's what his surrogates will be after.

2. Obama still leads 44-43% among independents. I think that will shift Obama's way once Palinmania wears off.

3. McCain is killing Obama among evangelicals, which I expected, but also Catholics (probably due to the abortion issue).

4. McCain's biggest gains are in strength of support, which means people are voting because of Palin, not him.

5. Was surprised to see 77% of Obama supporters and 88% of McCain supporters say they considered VP important. This is a risk area to McCain, again, because Palin's support is based on myths and "celebrity".

6. Favorability ratings of Obama/McCain nearly the same.

7. Hillary Clinton, even out of the limelight, *still* has a 43% unfavorable rating, which really puts the dampers on some of the "Hillary to the rescue" scenarios.

8. People think McCain/Palin can bring change but that's not why they are voting for them.

9. This is a biggie: everyone talks about the economy being the big issue. But while 55% of Obama supporters list it as such, only 23% of McCain supporters do. McCain leads 22-7% among those who list taxes and spending as their primary concern, suggesting Obama is failing on educating voters about his tax plan.

10. They are about evenly split on ability to handle energy issues, which is why I think the "drill drill drill" nonsense is on the back burner.