"Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity." Hey, that's defamation, buddy! Or so says Vicki Iseman, who is suing the New York Times for $27 million over their meek February McCain story which only characterizes other people's impressions of the relationship between her and McCain. Despite the paper's reticence, Iseman's suit claims "reasonable readers would conclude" that the Iseman and McCain were gettin' it on. The filing also portrays the Times as overeager to scoop other news outlets, which a jury will find hard to understand, as they have been told ceaselessly for years that newspapers are finished, and probably think a scoop means one blog got the story off the wires two minutes before the others did. Also, at this point don't "reasonable readers" assume every public official is stealing money and having affairs? In any case, this guy better lawyer up, too.