The Schmuck Talk Express™ has a schmuck — and allegedly used it …

With someone who didn’t happen to be his wife, Cindy McCain:

Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

And, apparently, something was up:

In interviews, two former associates said they joined in a series of confrontations with Mr. McCain, warning him that he was risking his campaign and career. Both said Mr. McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Ms. (Vicki) Iseman. The two associates, who said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.

And, that’s not all. The Schmuck Talk Express™ (alleged) diddling in the dell had a quid pro quo:

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of (Iseman’s) client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Well, if McCain’s bogus, taxpayer-defrauding campaign finance loan of earlier this year didn’t ruin his reputation for fiscal probity (as if the Keating Five scandal hadn’t already done that), this incident certainly will.

It’s not just the diddling hint that has Big John upset, I’m sure. It’s that (and about damn time), the NYT does a thorough dismantling of his whole façade.

As for the diddling part, here’s his response:

Mr. McCain said that the relationship was not romantic and that he never showed favoritism to Ms. Iseman or her clients. “I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that,” he said. He made the statements in a call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The New York Times, to complain about the paper’s inquiries.

The senator declined repeated interview requests, beginning in December. He also would not comment about the assertions that he had been confronted about Ms. Iseman, Mr. Black said Wednesday.

As the Washington Post reports, the Times story, then pending, got buzz on the Drudge Report two months ago. At that time, McCain hired heavyweight Washington attorney Robert Bennett. Obviously, the Times didn’t scare off.