Weber says he isn’t source of New York Times’ McCain piece

Bob CollinsBob Collins Feb 21, 2008
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This posting updated at 1:51 p.m.

By now, most people have heard that the New York Times ran a story this morning, purporting to look at ethical lapses of Sen. John McCain, but effectively revealing the assertion — without proof — that the presidential candidate may have had an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

Says the Times:

In interviews, the 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.

Then came the claim that one of the anonymous sources for the story is former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, who was the policy chairman in the campaign of former McCain rival Mitt Romney.

Says The Radar, a Web site devoted to politics, showbiz, and scandal:

Sources told Radar that one of these associates was John Vincent (Vin) Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who was an advisor to McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000. In 2007, Weber became Policy Chairman for the Romney for President Exploratory Committee.

“I know absolutely nothing about this whole story involving Senator McCain. I read it in the New York Times this morning when I got up, which is absolutely the first time I’ve heard of the name of this female lobbyist, first I’ve ever heard of this story,” Weber told me this afternoon. “And then all of a sudden around 11 o’clock this morning I heard that some trashy blogger said that I was the source of it, which is just completely not true. I don’t know anything about this. It’s absolutely, positively not true in any way. I don’t have anything to do with this story and even though I’ve been involved in public life for a long time, I learn something new every day. How in the world I could get attached to this story, I don’t have any idea.” (Listen)