Wednesday night, the New York Times finally broke the news of John McCain's affair, which it had been sitting on since at least December. Sources close to McCain have basically confirmed the story is true.
Just a few months ago, this "rumor" was believed to have been unsubstantiated, but it appears now that the Times just chickened out after pressure for McCain's attorneys. No one is entirely sure why they chose to run the story now, although it does give plenty of traction to the McCain campaign's new talking point: the New York Times is trying to bring down the Republican nominee, merely a day after he basically ended any discussion of a Huckabee comeback.
From the New York Times story, as it was on the NYT blog last night:
"In interviews ...two former associates said they joined in a series of confrontations with Mr. McCain, warning him that he was risking his campaign and career. Both said Mr. McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Ms. Iseman. The two associates, who said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.
"Separately, a top McCain aide met with Ms. Iseman at Union Station in Washington to ask her to stay away from the senator. John Weaver, a former top strategist and now an informal campaign adviser, said in an e-mail message that he arranged the meeting after 'a discussion among the campaign leadership' about her."
More on this potentially damaging bit of news, which features a photo of the lobbyist (certainly a dead ringer for his wife if there ever was one), click here. For another angle, check out the story that broke the story.
[Photo: Free Republic]