Don't let them mislead you.

Today's New York Times article describing Senator John McCain's problematic history with lobbyists has already drawn a veritable storm of criticism. The most heavy criticism is from two sources: other mainstream media sources and the right-wing chatterers (ironically, Rush Limbaugh is vocal on this matter, despite his apparent loathing for Sen. McCain). If you listen to the fuss these groups are making, you'd think they never read the article.

Feel free to use the provided link and you'll see that the article is almost entirely about Sen. McCain's ethical tone-deafness regarding his own behavior. He's cozy with lobbyists while he rails against them; he runs his campaign with a staff full of lobbyists while saying he wants them out of business. Senator, there's a reason why the advice is never only to avoid impropriety, but also the appearance of impropriety.

I suppose I must agree that the Times should have left out the part about how the Senator was so cozy with a young, pretty, blond lobbyist that some of his staffers feared he was having an affair with her. This is where the mainstream media fell down. They aren't reporting at all on the fact that the Senator was clearly showing signs of impropriety in not only that instance, but also in his famous dealings during the savings and loan scandals of the late 1980s. He needs to display the rectitude we want to believe he possesses and these matters show he's not capable of it. Why can't we discuss that, since he's a potential President of the United States?

As for the right wing, I assume they are merely repeating their usual efforts to drum up hatred and distrust for the mainstream media. The strategy, of course, is simply to make sure that anybody who dares to report a viewpoint that disagrees with them (or worse, reveal that the conservative view is wrong) is isolated and pilloried. They'd rather have you focus on the sex than the real story. They want to make sure you don't read the real story because you might conclude they are wrong. I'm not sure how much of this is even conscious thought on the part of the extreme right-wingers these days. Their hatred of those who disagree with them is so poisonous, I doubt they can see past it.

CDs listened to today:

• D'Angelo: Voodoo
• Ingram Marshall: Hymnodic Delays
• Georges Bizet: Symphony In C Major
• Green Day: Nimrod
• Kenny Wheeler: Music For Large & Small Ensembles
• Cuong Vu: Vu-Tet
• Nick Didkovsky: Amalia's Secret