Scheunemann lobbied McCain staff while working for campaign.
Scheunemann lobbied McCain staff while working for campaign.
USA Today reports that Randy Scheunemann, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top campaign foreign policy adviser, “lobbied the Arizona senator’s staff on behalf of the republic of Georgia while he was working for the campaign.” The Wonk Room’s Matt Duss adds:
The article notably does not mention one of Scheunemann’s most significant and successful lobbying operations: the invasion of Iraq. Scheunemann served as president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq [CLI], a neoconservative front group created in 2002. […]
Part of Scheunemann’s work for the CLI was promoting convicted embezzler and WMD fantasist Ahmad Chalabi as the “new Iraqi Ataturk,” and Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress as a “government in exile.” In a 2003 NewsHour interview, Scheunemann defended Chalabi’s “vision” for Iraq, claiming that Chalabi was opposed for “ideological reasons” by the State Department and the CIA, who, it turns out, were precisely correct about Chalabi’s untrustworthiness.
With lobbyist influence in his campaign gaining more scrutiny, McCain announced a new conflict of interest policy to purge the campaign of “registered lobbyist[s] or foreign agent[s].” While McCain campaign communications director Jill Hazelbaker said “everybody must comply with the policy,” she said today that “the ethics policy is not retroactive” and therefore does not apply to Scheunemann.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
18 Responses to “Scheunemann lobbied McCain staff while working for campaign.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
I’m shocked, I tell ya: SHOCKED!!
May 21st, 2008 at 4:15 pmA Neocon Lobbyist ? Imagine my surprise, Not.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:15 pmMcCain announced a new conflict of interest policy to purge the campaign of “…foreign agent[s].”
Does that mean no more KGB operatives in the McCain campaign?
May 21st, 2008 at 4:19 pmSo this is McCain’s “top foreign policy advisor”. And what percentage of the American people are unhappy with the war on Iraq? We need billboards to announce this little piece of brilliance.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pmJohn McCain: the gift that keeps on giving
May 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pmROTFLMAO!!! However did all the inhabitants of Bizarro-world ever manage to come toghther around McInsane? Is he some kind of strange attractor that gathers more and more malificent madness around him? How is it possible that the party that had Abraham Lincoln as their first elected president comes down to this? What fools these mortals be!
May 21st, 2008 at 4:28 pmImpeach Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!
Abu Ben Hussein Leporello.
McSame is the kewl kid on the block. The guy all the newspeople want to be. The rally around him just hoping he throws them a crumb or two (He likes me best!). A pathetic and useless MSM - now that’s mission accomplished!
May 21st, 2008 at 4:31 pm…“the ethics policy is not retroactive” …
May 21st, 2008 at 4:32 pmMcCain: “That’s correct, my friend. Any staff who may have been unethical prior to my notice to their unethicalness, my friend, shall not be held to my policy of getting rid of unethicals, because they didn’t know they had to be ethical.”
Go ahead McIIIrd purge your entire staff of lobbyists.
Then stand there and look around. Maybe you could fine someone, anyone to talk to. Maybe just start grabbing people off the street. “Hey! I need somebody to run my camping ground!
May 21st, 2008 at 4:37 pmOr run my campaign into the ground, or grind up my campaign so I can have my coffee in the morning. Coffee, ahh, that’s so warm and wet, like my pants…”
TP, I’m disappointed in you. Maverick has a perpetual get out of jail from the media card. This, of course, applies even if Maverick becomes Top Gun.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:37 pmScheunemann defended Chalabi’s “vision” for Iraq, claiming that Chalabi was opposed for “ideological reasons” by the State Department and the CIA,
Those “ideological reasons “were that he was a con man and an Iranian double agent.
Rumsfelds so called “plans” for Iraq, after Baghdad fell, was to hand things over to Chalabi, and return home to a victorious welcome. So Chalabi was a Very good con man.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:47 pmBuckie Boy, where are you….???
May 21st, 2008 at 4:52 pmWhen is a lobbyist not a lobbyist? Oh, ……… right, it is in their genes, so guess that is a trick question.
Johnnie Boy has so many in his camp, they can slough off like dead skin or shark’s teeth and he will still have more than enough to get him through the election. No worries.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:56 pmIf all the lobbyists quit the campaign, who is gonna drive the bus?
May 21st, 2008 at 4:58 pmWell Obama’s getting his donations from regular folks at $25 each so McCain can do the same thing. Oh I crack myself up.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pmThe irony is strong in this one.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:13 pmSo immediate-past associations don’t count against MCain, but ANY association counts against Obama, no matter how ancient? Interesting…hmmmm…
May 21st, 2008 at 6:27 pmThe more light shed on McCain the better … in the meantime, if any one is interested you can PLEDGE to support the Democratic nominee at http://www.norift.com - if you like it, DIGG it!
Thanks ya’ll
May 21st, 2008 at 9:14 pm