John McCain has weathered several scandals throughout his political career. Most recently, he has dealt with reports of an extramarital relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

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. New York Times: Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk (February 20, 2008)

In the end, it's hard to see how McCain's crusade to remove the corrupting influence of money from politics is any more admirable than the corruption of which he was suspected in the Keating scandalReason Magazine: "How John McCain Reformed" (2005)

Earlier this month, at a Republican Senate fund-raiser, McCain told a downright nasty joke making fun of Janet Reno, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea ClintonSalon: A Joke too Bad to Print? (1998)

• Salon: Did McCain's foreign-policy advisor profit from the Iraq war? (August 1, 2008)