McCain Hires Blogger, Delays Announcement for Months

Mark Tapscott passes on word that Senator John McCain has hired Patrick Hymes, of CrushKerry.com and AnkleBitingPundits fame, to work on his campaign. There is a minor problem, however:

In addition, Jim Geraghty of National Review Online’s TKS adds a rich irony to the hiring of Hymes by noting the delay in the announcement of his retention for several months during which time the former CrushKerry.comer posted several pieces of effusive praise for McCain and some stiff attacks on potential rival Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

It ought to be Rule One among politically active bloggers that the financial relationship should be acknowledged whenever you post on behalf of a candidate who is paying you. Better you disclose it first than somebody else at a less opportune moment, right?

Right. Hymes more-or-less agrees and posts his mea culpa here.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Bhoe says:

    McCain has a record of hiring people with less-than-stellar ethics backgrounds. His current top advisor is Terry Nelson who was named in the DeLay indictment as the money launderer for questionable campaign contributions funnelled through the RNC.

    For a guy who claims to be a “straight talker” the hiring of questionable characters like Nelson & Hymes is interesting.

  2. James Joyner says:

    Aside from failing to disclose he was doing consulting work for McCain while blogging about him, what is it that Hymes has done that’s ” of questionable character”?