The media lobby scam

Jennifer Rubin:

THE New York Times, Washington Post and other "prestige" papers have been all atwitter over lobbyists working for (or leaving) the McCain campaign - as if they were uncovering some great hypocrisy. But their "exposés" never show any sign that the lobbyists actually sway John McCain. In fact, the record clearly shows that he's less prone to such influence than Barack Obama.

When papers cite specific lobbyists and specific votes, the McCain camp so far has dutifully pulled out evidence that the senator either rejected the lobbyist's entreaties or voted in keeping with his longstanding policy positions.

It's sometimes hard to fathom the point of these stories. If McCain, as recounted in a Washington Post report about an incident in the late '90s, threw then-lobbyist Charlie Black and his client out of his office, doesn't it show the lack of lobbyist influence on him?

And how is there a problem if campaign staffer Randy Scheunemann lobbied McCain to expand NATO on behalf of former Soviet states - when McCain has long favored such NATO expansion?

All this coverage is confused - at best. The problem isn't just the lack of similar stories about Obama's ties to lobbyists. (Yes, Obama has advisers and "volunteers" who lobby for oil, pharmaceutical, insurance and other businesses on Democrats' roster of villains.)

Rather, the error lies in these stories' assumption that McCain's proximity to lobbyists itself is improper. In fact, the real issue is whether the candidate ever sided with lobbyists against the public interest.

That is, how did McCain (and Obama) vote in the face of lobbyists trolling for taxpayer dollars or asking for dispensation at odds with the public good?

...

The stories are written on the false premise that McCain is a hypocrite. One way you can tell it is a false premise is to ask yourself would the story even be a story if McCain was not the GOP candidate. One way to find that is whether similar stories are written about Obama or Hillary Clinton.

The purpose of the stories is what Obama calls distractions when he is challenged. In McCain's case they really are.