My God, what has the world come to!!!!!!! Exclusive: Verizon and AT&T Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch
Early in 2007, just as her husband launched his presidential bid, Cindy McCaindecided to resolve an old problem — the lack of cellular telephone coverage on her remote 15-acre ranch near Sedona, nestled deep in a tree-lined canyon called Hidden Valley.
By the time Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid was in full swing this summer, the ranch had wireless coverage from the two cellular companies most often used by campaign staff — Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
Verizon delivered a portable tower know as a “cell site on wheels” — free of charge — to Cindy McCain’s property in June in response to an online request from Cindy McCain’s staff early last year. Such devices are usually reserved for restoring service when cell coverage is knocked out during emergencies, such as hurricanes.
In July, AT&T followed suit, wheeling in a portable tower for free to match Verizon’s offer. “This is an unusual situation,” said AT&T spokeswoman Claudia B. Jones. “You can’t have a presidential nominee in an area where there is not cell coverage.”
No, seriously. The Washington Post is making a bid deal out of this…um….trying to think of a nice word since this will be cross posted at Stop The ACLU. And the WP is trying to make it out to be some sort of big ethical thing. I mean, the Post barely touches Ayers, Pflager, Jeremiah Wright, and anything that might put Obama in even a mildly negative light, but, this is IMPORTANT! I mean, heck, the WP gives Tim Mahoney (D-Fla) the massive benefit of the doubt, putting the stories on the “I might get around to read them later” pages. Cell towers for a presidential candidate, and, not to mention, a very rich wife? BIG NEWS!!!!
Let me tell you, I work in the industry. It is not that big of a deal. It doesn’t cost that much for these types of towers, and, yeah, it does get good will from a sitting US Senator. There are all sorts of little towers that can be put in to give small range coverage, and, there are lots and lots of towers that barely cover anyone. Think about highways: a good chunk of those towers are money losers. Not much traffic on them. I could discuss an area where HSDPA has been put on towers in an area where a few years ago you were lucky if you got service, but, it serves the people coming to play in this area.
Really, this is much ado ‘bought nuttin’ from the same people who thought that an affair by a sitting US president, along with perjury in front of a federal grand jury, suborning testimony, a credible rape charge, a credible sexual harrassment charge, and witness tampering was no big deal. And who still do not bother covering Obama’s radical associations.
I mean, sheesh, AMERICAblog had a total meltdown over this, as do many other on the Left, courtesty of Memeorandum. Not surprising, of course. The only thing they know about mobile towers is that they need this.
