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I understand that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has a responsibility to go out there and paint things in the most positive light possible for his candidate. But there's a difference between "spin" and flat out denying reality. Davis on FOX News Sunday this morning illustrated this dementia quite profoundly.

Let's take a look at one of Davis' claims, and how it stacks up against the actual polling numbers.

Davis: The race is tightening in the Southwest and McCain is structuraly tied in Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico."

Reality: In Nevada, Barack Obama leads in the last eight polls, with a margin between 4 and 12 points.

In Colorado, excluding John Zogby's garbage internet polls, Barack Obama has lead in every single poll taken since the end of September. What's more, the most recent PPP poll has him up a staggering 10 points.

And in New Mexico, Obama leads in every poll since the second week in September. The last four polls average out to a 10.5 Obama lead.

Now, it's possible (although higly unlikely) that all these polls are wrong. But that's not the point. The point is that Rick Davis is permitted to go on television and pull "facts" out of his ass with no retribution. The McCainiacs can delude themselves all they want, but shouldn't it be the responsibility of a "legitimate" news organization to call foul on such blatant lies? Perhaps Davis is relying only on internal polls are Karl Rove-type "math". If that's the case, all that stands between Barack Obama and the presidency is some solid GOTV. Do your part.

Today's Washington Times has an article talking about a battle going on between the Ohio GOP and John McCain:

In Ohio, long-boiling friction between the McCain campaign and the state Republican Party on a variety of issues reached a new intensity over a complicated local gambling question. The state Republican Party's central committee had voted to oppose a proposed state constitutional amendment to permit a casino in Clinton County. The state party included its "vote no" view on the "slate card" of recommendations it sends to early voters.

The McCain campaign unilaterally removed that recommendation from the mailer, overriding Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett and threatening to block funds to pay for the printing and distribution. Mr. McCain favors legalized gambling, and his campaign did not want to appear to support it some states and oppose it in others.

The state party worked with the opponents of the amendment to send another mailing, using the pictures of U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich, Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and Mr. Bennett, along with their words of opposition on the gambling question.

"Why in the world would anyone want to amend the Constitution of Ohio and put a monopoly in for one individual to build one casino in the state of Ohio?" Mr. Voinovich asks in his statement.

Joe Sudbay brings up the fact that McCain has serious ties to the gambling industry, which could be his reason for breaking with the Ohio GOP. That is most likely only part of the reason though.

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In tonight's debate, John McCain seems set to "go there" on Ayers, goaded into it by Obama's plainly saying that McCain had until now been too chicken to say it to Obama's face.

It's quite possible Obama has a range of rebuttals ready. It's not as if he doesn't have plenty of examples of McCain's dodgy friendships to choose from. He's also probably hoping McCain loses that famous temper, messily, on live TV in front of millions - the obvious followup being ads of McCain snarling and the simple question "would you trust this man with America's nukes?"

But McCain also has another problem with "going there" - sheer hypocrisy from his campaign. As Bill Scher points out, Rick Davis penned a Boston Globe op-ed back in 2004 in which he urged Bush and Kerry to pressure their supporters not to engage in smear campaigns. He wrote as campaign manager for McCain's failed primary bid, which crashed after a Bush camp smear about McCain having fathered "an illegitimate child who was black. In the conservative, race-conscious South, that's not a minor charge."

It's not necessary, however, for a smear to be true to be effective. The most effective smears are based on a kernel of truth and applied in a way that exploits a candidate's political weakness.

...Campaigns have various ways of dealing with smears. They can refute the lies, or they can ignore them and run the risk of the smear spreading. But "if you're responding, you're losing." Rebutting tawdry attacks focuses public attention on them, and prevents the campaign from talking issues.

Back then, Davis described such smear campaigns, designed to keep voters from considering candidates stances on the issues, the "blackest of the dark arts". Don't you just love the smell of sheer hypocrisy in the morning? McCain's connection to his lobbyist chums are certainly far closer than Obama's to Ayers.

We got a preview of how tonight might play during the primary debates:

Crossposted from Newshoggers

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McCain campaign manager Rick Davis took to FOX News this morning to defend the dangerous, out of control vitriol coming from McCain's rallies. His argument? John McCain was a POW!

"Look, Chris, I think we have to take this very seriously. The kind of comments made by Congressman Lewis, a big Obama supporter, are reprehensible. The idea that you're going to compare John McCain to the kinds of hate spread in the '60s by somebody like George Wallace is outrageous. Where was John McCain when George Wallace was spreading his hate and segregationist policies at that time? He was in a Vietnam prison camp serving his country with his civil rights also denied.

"Nobody knows sacrifice like John McCain does, and the idea that Barack Obama didn't address this issue directly, had his campaign walk out there with a half-baked statement that didn't even address the comments made by Lewis as related to John McCain. Barack Obama should apologize to John McCain directly for the kinds of comments made by John Lewis yesterday and that should be the end of this sordid affair."

What a WATB. The McCain campaign's central message is that Barack Obama is a an un-American terrorist sympathizer. Who the hell are they to complain when a civil rights pioneer rightly condemns them for creating a hateful atmosphere not seen since the tense days of forty years ago. McCain was right when he told Rick Warren that John Lewis was one of the wisest men he knows. It's just a shame that he now won't heed his advice.

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After Rick Davis tried to downplay the news that Palin was found to have abused her power in Alasks with the Troopergate scandal, a heated exchange appeared on FNS with Chris Wallace, when Obama's campaign manager told McCain's camp guru Rick Davis that he's selling access for McCain to lobbyists...

Axelrod: Look I think the way you root out corruption in Washington is first take on the lobbyist culture and you know what we can't have are lobbyists making millions of dollars selling access to public officials as Rick has done selling access to Sen McCain. That is not how you clean up Washington.

Is it false that you sell access to Senator McCain. Do you sell access to Sen. McCain?

Davis immediately cuts him off and starts yelling at David. It was like this a lot. It's been reported over and over again that McCain's campaign is chock full of lobbyists who were paid off...How can Rick Davis talk about cleaning up DC when he's one of the leading causes of its downfall?

Davis floats around a new canard for McCain---that it'll be bad for America if the White House and Congress go to the Democratic party.

I know it would be just exquisite for Rick Davis if it all remained a total Republican Congress and White House just like before. He didn't complain when Bush and his cronies were rubber stamping each other.

If the country is lucky enough, we will have kicked out the people that are responsible for the political corruption that has helped destroy our economy and give us a chance to rebuild America....

And don't worry, the Conservatives will do everything they can to block any good piece of legislation anyway they can no matter who's in charge.

How lucky for McSame that the "suspending" of his campaign has distracted the mainstream ("ooh, look at that shiny object!") media from discussing further Palin's substance-free meetings with foreign heads of state and Rick Davis' continuing ties to Freddie Mac.

Luckily, unlike John McCain, we here in the blogosphere are capable of juggling more than one ball in the air. Lindsay Beyerstein has done some basic investigation (remember when the mainstream media practiced journalism?) and found that the McCain campaign, is just not being honest:

The McCain campaign claims that campaign manager Rick Davis separated from his lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006:

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis -- weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual -- since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.

This record, which I retrieved from the Virginia State Corporations Commission shows that Davis is still an officer/director of Davis Manafort, Inc. He is also currently the clerk/treasurer of Davis Manafort Partners, Inc.

Corporate officers/directors don't necessarily get paid and don't necessarily "receive equity" based on the profits of the corporation. But whether Davis has been paid, or received any equity based on Davis Manafort's profits since 2006 is a separate question from whether he retains a connection to the firm.

And as Newsweek cited, "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.'"

The New York Times and Newsweek are reporting that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac as recently as last month, directly contradicting statements made by the entire campaign as late as Tuesday.

New York Times:

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, 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.

Rachel sat down with Newsweek's Michael Isikoff last night to talk about the revelations, including the fact that Davis appears to have been paid all this money for nothing other than his access to John McCain.

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How are we supposed to believe McCain will root out corruption in Washington when his campaign is run by the people doing all the corrupting?

What's even worse is that for the past two weeks, the McCain campaign has been trying to tie Obama to disgraced former Freddie Mac CEO Franklin Raines, arguing that their "relationship" (a single contact from an Obama campaign official that both parties deny amounted to anything) somehow taints Obama. Nevermind the fact that McCain's most senior campaign official was on Freddie's payroll as late as last month. The hypocrisy couldn't be more glaring.

I'm with Anonymous Liberal when he says:

"If Guinness gave out world records for political hypocrisy, this particular line of attack would have to make the book. It really is incredible."

UPDATE: (Nicole) DNC Rapid Response Manager Jesse Lee has more:

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.

The implosion of Wall Street last week resulted in a near-death crisis for John McCain's presidential campaign. His post-Palin bump eviscerated, McCain was staggered by the re-emergence of the economy as the dominant issue in the 2008 election. His daily-changing positions revealed that McCain, a man who has repeatedly admitted his ignorance of economics, is struggling to cope with his diminished presidential prospects. Armchair psychologists might call the process John McCain's five stages of grief over the economy.

Denial. McCain's refusal to confront the realities of the failing Bush economy has long roots and was again on display last Monday. McCain, who has frequently described the economic slowdown as "psychological," for at least the 18th time proclaimed the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." As the Dow plummeted over 500 points, McCain reacted to the white-hot crisis on Wall Street by comically announcing his support for a 9/11-style commission to study the causes of and make recommendations to address the meltdown. Willing to kick the can down the road with his since forgotten 9/11 panel idea, McCain also took a head-in-the-sand position in opposing the government rescue of teetering insurance giant AIG:

"We cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else."

Anger. Sadly, McCain's denial of the obvious produced an immediate backlash from the press and the public alike. Literally within hours last Monday, McCain reversed course on the underlying strength of the American economy and declared the fundamentals of the economy to be "at great risk."

Then John McCain did what he does best - he got mad.

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The Washington Post:

Senator John McCain's campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation as they began buying riskier mortgages with implicit federal backing. He and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, have donors and advisers who are tied to the companies.

Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain's campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions. Read on...

Barack Obama and Joe Biden need to jump on this story and keep hammering away until the corporate media can no longer ignore it. The U.S. stands on the brink of the next Great Depression thanks to Bush/McCain deregulation policies and now we find out that the man who runs the McCain campaign was paid handsomely to lobby for these fatal policies on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even as he repeatedly tries to tie Obama to those companies. Voters need to know how we got into this mess and who is responsible. It was John McCain, his elite lobbyist cronies and the Republican party. I agree with John:

There should be a campaign to demand that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, give ever penny back to the American people. There had better be an ad about this out by COB Monday, and calls for Davis' resignation.

The McCain campaign thinks we're a nation full of whiners and cowards who should just STFU, take a second or third job and cancel our vacations and be thankful for what we're fed. The lack of respect is stunning -- is this the kind of leader you want?

Yup, that's John McCain boarding the yacht of Raffaello Follieri, former playboy beau of actress Anne Hathaway and current felon. What's the Ol' Maverick doing celebrating his 70th birthday on a yacht in Montenegro with his campaign manager Rick Davis? The Nation has the scoop.

The McCain-Follieri Love Boat

John McCain has been hammering rival Barack Obama for being little more than a vapid "celebrity" and "elitist." But The Nation has obtained a photo revealing just how star-struck a straight-talking maverick can become when offered the chance to celebrate his birthday aboard a yacht filled with celebrities--even if one of those celebrity types turns out to be an A-list con man.

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What would the reaction be if it were Obama schmoozing on the yacht of a Hollywood celebrity with David Axelrod? Do we even have to ask?

Yglesias sums it up:

Long story short, John McCain who hates lobbyists and celebrities decided to spend his seventieth birthday partying on a yacht off the shore of Montenegro with an Italian con man and his movie star girlfriend, a meeting organized by a lobbyist who also happens to be McCain’s campaign manager.