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 mon
September 23, 2008

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.

icon Download icon Download

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.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon