McCain bimbo eruption?

Westmonster has a pretty good memory of Bill Clinton's parsing during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. So we read avidly the New York Times' front-page John McCain bimbo/lobbyist eruption story, and the response(s) from McCain's campaign to see what we could read in the tea leaves.

From McCain's responses, he thinks this is a story about improper lobbying, not improper relationships:

"He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election."

This is what Woodward & Bernstein, famed Watergate reporters, would have called a "non-denial denial," in that he never explicitly says there was no sexual relationship with the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman.

The story is just emerging, but it's already getting a ton of play across the pond — see here, and here, and here.

The Americans, like anybody else, love a sex scandal, and Westmonster reckons this one won't go away quickly.