Times, McCain Lobbyist Spar Over Settlement

Vicki Iseman seeks $27M for defamation

(NEWSER) - Washingon lobbyist Vicki Iseman filed a $27 million defamation lawsuit today against the New York Times for running an article that she says falsely implied an affair with John McCain, the Virginia Lawyers Weekly reports. The February article said McCain aides worried in 1999 that their relationship had become romantic. The newspaper stood by the story today. More»

Iseman settles with no payment or retraction; article implied affair

(NEWSER) - Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist whose relationship with John McCain was the subject of an explosive New York Times article during the 2008 campaign, has settled her lawsuit against the paper. Iseman will receive no payment, and the Times has not retracted the article, which seemed to imply that she and McCain had an affair. But in an uncommon move, the paper has published a letter from Iseman's lawyers on its website. More»

'I have never even been alone with Sen. McCain,' Vicki Iseman says

(NEWSER) - Vicki Iseman lashed out at the New York Times and a former John McCain adviser for the February story that implied an affair occurred between her and the Republican candidate, the National Journal reports. “I did not have a sexual relationship with Sen. McCain,” Iseman says. In fact, the lobbyist amplifies, “I have never even been alone with Sen. McCain.” More»

Some didn't run McCain bombshell; Times ' own ombudsman bashed it

(NEWSER) - The New York Times’ bombshell story about John McCain’s ethics problems—and his allegedly inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist—is nearly a week old, but the media world is still reacting:

• The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s ombudsman explains that his paper’s editor was too uncomfortable with the romantic angle to run the Times piece—which he accuses of “unsubstantiated innuendo”—and decided to run the unsexed Washington Post story instead. But they drew criticism from readers anyway.

Left-wing bloggers climb on anti- Times bandwagon

(NEWSER) - One day after the New York Times reported on John McCain's "close bond" with Vicki Iseman, reaction is still developing, and not necessarily along ideological lines. Observers of the observers offer their impressions.

• Popular liberal bloggers, "breaking with partisan patterns, are expressing discomfort," Ben Smith of Politico writes, adding, ""The defense of McCain from the left reflects well on the blogs' objectivity.”