On Monday, I wrote about the "Boomerang Effect" currently bedeviling John McCain's presidential bid: "First, McCain chastises Obama for committing a sin that he himself has committed. Then Obama points this out, distracting voters from his own foibles and refocusing the spotlight on McCain. For Obama, the impact of the attack is immediately negated. But for McCain it's doubled: he ends up looking both a) guilty of whatever he accused Obama of and b) totally hypocritical."

My major example was McCain's attacks on Obama for associating with former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson. The problem? McCain's own campaign is swarming with 26 advisers or fundraisers who have lobbied or are currently lobbying for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac--including campaign manager Rick Davis. When the New York Times reported Monday that Freddie Mac had previously paid an advocacy group run by Davis $30,000 a month until the end of 2005, the McCain campaign vehemently denied that Davis still had ties to the mortgage giant. In fact, Davis told reporters during a conference call that "it's been over three years since there's been any activity in this area and since I had any contact with those folks." 

Unfortunately, that's not quite accurate. As NEWSWEEK's tireless investigative ace Mike Isikoff reports this morning, Freddie Mac also paid Davis's consulting and lobbying firm Davis Manafort a consulting fee of $15,000 a month starting in 2005--before Davis took a leave of absence to work on the McCain campaign--and ending only last month, when the U.S. government acquired the firm. (The New York Times has also posted a story on the payments.) Davis is still a partner and equity-holder in Davis Manafort, so he continues to benefit from its income. So far, Team McCain has attacked the messengers--as usual--but they haven't disputed the allegations, except to say Davis isn't profiting personally from Freddie Mac and therefore doesn't have, according to the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, a "direct financial conflict of interest in helping McCain develop policy." But that ignores the larger issue: whether Freddie put Davis's firm on retainer--at Davis's request--because of Davis's relationship with McCain. "The story's not about profit," writes Ambinder. "It's about influence buying."

Is this doomsday for McCain? Hardly. But it is hypocritical. As I wrote Monday, "the only thing dumber than throwing a stone from your glass abode [is] throwing a boomerang." And this one just circled back around. 

Take it away, Isikoff:

Since 2006, the federally sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac has paid at least $345,000 to the lobbying and consulting firm of John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement...

McCain and his aides have vehemently objected to suggestions that Davis has ties to Freddie Mac—an especially sensitive issue given that the Republican presidential candidate has blamed "the lobbyists, politicians and bureaucrats" for the mortgage crisis that recently prompted the Bush administration to take over both Freddie Mac and its companion, Fannie Mae, and put them under federal conservatorship.

But neither the Times story—nor the McCain campaign—revealed that Davis's lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, based in Washington, D.C., continued to receive $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until last month—long after the Homeownership Alliance had been terminated. The two sources, who requested anonymity discussing sensitive information, told NEWSWEEK that Davis himself approached Freddie Mac in 2006 and asked for a new consulting arrangement that would allow his firm to continue to be paid. The arrangement was approved by Hollis McLoughlin, Freddie Mac's senior vice president for external relations, because "he [Davis] was John McCain's campaign manager and it was felt you couldn't say no," said one of the sources...

When asked about his own campaign manager's associations with the mortgage giants, McCain, in an interview with CNBC on Sunday night, said that Davis "has had nothing to do" with the Homeownership Alliance since it disbanded and "I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it."...

Davis, in a conference call arranged by the McCain campaign on Monday, said "it's been over three years since there's been any activity in this area and since I had any contact with those folks." Davis also said he "had a severed leave of absence" from his lobbying and consulting firm, and "I've taken no compensation from my firm for 18 months." (A campaign spokesman said that Davis receives no partnership distribution under his arrangement)...

Freddie Mac has had no contact with Davis Manafort other than receiving monthly invoices from the firm and paying them. But the money could be perceived as helping Freddie Mac ensure a good relationship with one of McCain's top aides in the event that he became president. The payments, along with other lobbying and consulting contracts, are expected to be terminated by the new federal overseers, the sources said.

READ THE REST HERE.

(Photo credit: Charles Dharapak / AP)