Yes we have seen the McCain ads, attacking Barack Obama for allegedly having a close relationship with Frankin Raines, the former Fannie CEO. I have posted that McCain ad on this blog. Well now we discover that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis received $30,000 (yes thirty thousand dollars a month) from a company set up by Fannie and Freddie to lobby against additional regulation. From the New York Times:

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation as they began buying riskier mortgages with implicit federal backing. He and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, have donors and advisers who are tied to the companies.

But last week the McCain campaign stepped up a running battle of guilt by association when it began broadcasting commercials trying to link Mr. Obama directly to the government bailout of the mortgage giants this month by charging that he takes advice from Fannie Mae’s former chief executive, Franklin Raines, an assertion both Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign dispute.

Well it looks like the McCain campaign has some serious egg on their face now, with all of their strong condemnation of Obama for the so called Raines connection. I believe that the McCain ad called Raines alleged connection to the Obama campaign “shocking”. Since Raines has no connection to the Obama campaign it is another whopper told by the McCain campaign. But what is truly shocking is that Rick Davis, the current McCain campaign manager, made almost two million from lobbying against regulatory reform of Fannie and Freddie. Will McCain now fire Davis? That is the two million dollar question.

Thats a shame! Shame