 Both said McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and that he pledged to keep his distance from Iseman.The associates said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.A McCain spokesperson characterized the story as a "hit and run smear campaign" and "gutter politics" and went on to say, "It is a shame that the New York Times has lowered its standards [...]" Iseman's employer, Lowell Paxson, disputed McCain's assertion that he had never met with Paxson over a Federal Communications Commission matter mentioned in the original "New York Times" article.