Bob Bennett, otherwise known as John McCain’s lawyer, happened to be scheduled to appear on Hannity & Colmes on Wednesdy evening — before anyone knew the New York Times McCain / Vicki Iseman would break:

From the program:

“You know, I’m in a pretty unique position to talk about John McCain. First, I should tell your listeners I’m a registered Democrat, so I’m not on his side of a lot of issues. But I investigated John McCain for a year and a half, at least, when I was special counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee in the Keating Five, which, by the way, this New York Times article goes back to and discusses, goes back years and years. And if there is one thing I am absolutely confident of, it is John McCain is an honest man. I recommended to the Senate Ethics Committee that he be cut out of the case, that there was no evidence against him, and I think for the “New York Times” to dig this up just shows that Senator McCain’s public statement about this is correct. It’s a smear job.”

“Ironically, you guys were kind enough to invite me on to talk about my book. This story broke, you know, an hour ago. And this was not my intention here, you know, to come on and defend John McCain. I think it’s the right thing to do. One thing I concluded, he is an honest man. This is a real hit job. “

“And after representing him the last few months, answering all the questions of the New York Times, looking into the allegations they wanted us to respond to, I cannot find, nor can they, a single instance where John McCain did something contrary to his beliefs.”

“I only began representing Senator McCain a couple of months ago in connection with some dirty tricks, which has now resulted in this article, I believe. I investigated John McCain. I was investigating him as counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee. It was after a year and a half year of investigating him, I decided that he was a very honest man and recommended to the Senate that they not go after him. So, you know, I didn’t ever represent him before. I don’t know, you know, John McCain is winning an awful lot. And just a repeat of South Carolina, if you ask me.”