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41 Days Out (Rick Davis Day): "He was John McCain's campaign manager and it was felt you couldn't say no."
Jesse Lee is the Online Rapid Response Manager for the DNC, this is a daily update on the day's messaging.
Maybe it's better that John McCain's top advisors are spending their time during this crisis in a losing war on the New York Times. The less people like Rick Davis have time to advise him on the economic situation, the better for America. Almost patriotic of him.
Washington Post: "The lobbying firm founded and co-owned by Rick Davis, the campaign manager for Sen. John McCain's White House bid, received payments from Freddie Mac in recent months, despite assertions by Davis earlier this week that the firm's work for the mortgage giant had ended three years ago. An industry source told The Washington Post that Davis's firm, Davis Manafort, continued to receive monthly payments in the $15,000 range from Freddie Mac until very recently, confirming an ongoing financial relationship reported last night in several other publications. The source said Davis Manafort was paid for being on retainer to Freddie Mac but did little actual work after early 2007."
Newsweek: "...Davis's lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, based in Washington, D.C., continued to receive $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until last month--long after the Homeownership Alliance had been terminated. 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]."
New York Times: "They said they did not recall Mr. Davis's doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than to 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 his close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House."
One would think that might bother the McCain campaign, given that McCain's said that "At the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." Sadly, no! It's all the boogeyman New York Times' fault! So out went yet another McCain campaign screed (this time with a special shout-out to HuffPo). Without spending too much time debunking, the Politico headline, "McCain camp attacks Times, doesn't deny report," and HuffPo take, "McCain Camp Whacks And Misses In Latest NYT Attack," probably tell you all you need to know.
So what's the next question, given that Rick Davis apparently was taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for basically nothing except for being John McCain's friend?
Obama-Biden communications director Dan Pfeiffer:
"It is now clear that both John McCain and Rick Davis did not tell the truth about Davis's continuing financial relationship with Freddie Mac, one of the actors at the center of this financial crisis. It's troubling not only that Davis's firm--with which he is still associated and which the McCain campaign paid directly last year--continued to be compensated by Freddie Mac until as recently as last month, but that the firm did little work and apparently was being paid simply to provide access to the McCain campaign.
"The question that now needs to be answered is this: did Freddie Mac or any other special interests buy access to John McCain by compensating top officials, including Rick Davis?"
Somebody would probably ask Mr. Davis that, but off to the cone of silence he goes!
Chicago Sun-Times: "John McCain campaign manager Rick Davis skips lunch with reporters... John McCain campaign manager Rick Davis--under the spotlight because of his work for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--is skipping a Wednesday lunch with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. On Tuesday, word came that McCain political director Mike DuHaime will substitute for Davis because he is 'heading out on the trail' today."
Still 41 days left, hope there's enough necessities stocked up in the cone to get everybody in there through...
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John McCain is a sneaky man, and his obvious calculated, political move today will no doubt appear in a campaign ad next week, McCain claiming that he put his country first! This was simply a sneaky move, for politcal gain by John McCain, and sadly alot of people will probably fall for this disgraceful ploy by John McCain.
Democrats please call your Independent and Democratic friends, and let them know that this is a very calculated, sneaky political move by John McCain, and they should NOT to fall for it!!
The proof that this is all a sneaky political ploy by John McCain is the many negative campaign ads McCain will put out on this NEXT WEEK.
Rick may have gone out on the trail to avoid FBI possible subpoena in its investigation of Fannie and Freddie criminal behavior.
If the FBI doesn't subpoena Rick Davis than their final report will be a whitewash. One just has to wonder if Bush 44 just took Davis' word that he was not longer involved with Freddie/Fannie, or if he knew about it.
Stop using 'cone of silence' like it's a real thing. The phrase conjures an image of some idiot living inside a giant dunce cap.
The expression 'cone of silence', along with 3am moments and shifting experience, needs to be retired.
It won't becauase McCain just called for a "time out" on the campaign.
I can't believe I've not heard a word about this on any of the mainstream news channels - it is unbelievable!
Bottom line is McCain cannot be trusted.
I can't wait to see what the Morning Joe program has to say about this. I am sure they will dismiss it as lies of the evil print media.
I will be sure to set my alarm for 6 AM because that is when Joe goes off on his silly Republican rants against Obama.
I disagree with you, Joe's rants against Obama are less and less these past few weeks and I dare say months. Actually, Joe is a realist because he has been in the trenches of Congress and knows the dirty deals that go on in both parties. In all honesty, I would not be the least bit surprised if Joe was a secret supporter of Obama, even though he likes McCain as a person, but he has a media job to do and must remain true to his viewers perception that he is a true red right winger. All one has to do is watch and listen very closely and you can sometimes catch him go off his game plan of acting. You know sometimes I see the same in Buchanan..oops, ok, maybe that's a stretch, sorry.
This is actually worse than lobbying...this is an ongoing bribe of the next potential president. Unless I get my way.
OBAMA 08
Let's see if this makes the Nightly News with Brian Williams and its ilk. My educated guess is it will not. The msm is absolutely pathetic. They never tell the truth with regard to McCain. I'm off today and have been watching the news channels....not ONE WORD about this.
THANK GOD for the NYT.
Countdown and the Rachel Maddow show (if it's now on, tonight) will cover it... Rachel actually broke the story last night on her show and interviewed Michael Isikoff (sp) from Newsweek.
Get paid for providing access to McC? From Charles Keating to Rick Davis and the taxpayer foots the bill. MC C got away with this once in 1987 over Lincoln Savings and Loan. No he won't raise taxes he'll just have us bailout companies he has personal interests in after he and his friends run them in the ground. Mc C has turned out to be the tail on GWB
Often times I followed you and learned interesting things about the candidates. But forgive me if I don't think you are being true. Because Rick Davis did far less damage than one of Obamas' economic
advisers who recieved 25 millions as part of his being fired package. This was when fannie and freddie were settling into the woes of failure. Why don't you report on that? How can I continue to believe you, if you fail to be right and truthful?
They may not believe in science, but they sure believe in science fiction as popularized by G. Bush - living in an alternate universe. This is truly bizarre.
Palin is kept hidden, stepping out now and then just for photos, McCain has had his first press conference for many weeks,lasting only 11 minutes, Carly Fiorina has been made to 'disappear', while Rick Davis is 'heading out on the trail'. Phil Gramm was chucked months ago and Tucker Bounds has become the whipping boy of any news anchor that he talks to. What is going on with the McCain campaign? Is this what the McCain presidency would be like?
YUP!
Bingo! What we are all witnessing right now in real time is just a small foretelling of what a McCain administration would be like. Palin has already proven that she's Richard "Big Dick" Cheney in lipstick and McCain is an even worse manager/leader/"commander guy" than George W. "Harvard MBA" Bush. We simply cannot afford another 4 - 8 years of this nightmare.
Is there any doubt who would be running a McCain white house and who would be his closest advisors??
McCain is an android who will only do what he is programed to do.
NOPE.
Obama should turn this into the number one issue. This has the possibility of totally derailing McCain's campaign.
McCain/Palin/Davis/Gramm/Fiorina ALL LIARS....ALL HYPOCRITES...
Change is coming indeed.. VOTE THEM AWAY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE...
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