McCain's blog payola

I gave NRO writer Jim Geraghty a hard time the other day, but I come today to thank him for putting together this story.

Not long ago, I heard from a trusted source that Patrick Hynes, a political consultant, was working for Sen. John McCain.

Hynes was one of the bright minds behind CrushKerry.com, now AnkleBitingPundits.com. My source said that without disclosing his compensation or affiliation, Hynes had blogged about McCain, ...The word was no. So I shrugged; perhaps my source had misheard something.

Until yesterday, when I saw a day-old announcement on AnkleBitingPundits:

New Media Strategics is thrilled to announce it has been retained by Straight Talk America, the organization headed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), which is dedicated to a powerful reform agenda.

NMS President Patrick Hynes, a longtime political consultant, author and blogger, stated, “It is an honor to work with Sen. John McCain to bring New Media tools to the cause of reform. With the power of the New Media, Straight Talk America’s reform agenda will reach more people and energize more activists than ever before.”

The article goes on to detail the backstage wrangling, backstabbing, and general maneuverings that supporters of Mitt Romney and John McCain are using in their attempts to discredit each others' candidate.

I say, a pox on both their houses. Romney and McCain are equally scurrilous weasels, and I hope their budding candidacies both go down in flames. But let's remember this story the next time some right winger starts talking about Kos's possible conflict of interest years ago.

Geraghty adds:

By the way, the fact that this occurs on the campaign of John McCain - Mr. Campaign Finance Reform, Mr. “the clarion call for greater disclosure has been heard and it is time we acted” — is… fascinating.

Indeed. Wonkette has more.