Wow! I thought I was watching WWE’s Raw today when I tuned in to Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. The panel’s second and last discussion was about the NYT’s article on McCain’s dealings with a certain lobbyist.

Here’s a partial transcript:

WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, I just — let me just stand up for the journalist here. I think you have serious journalists who did a serious story, and you have John Weaver, who was a top McCain aide, on the record as saying that he met with her at Union Station to say, “You know what? This is embarrassing for the senator,” saying that…

HUME: What’s embarrassing?

WILLIAMS: That her presence, her constant, regular…

WALLACE: That isn’t what he said.

HUME: That’s not what he said.

WILLIAMS: OK. What did he say?

WALLACE: Now, wait. What he said was he heard that she was shooting off her mouth around town saying that she had a lot of clout with McCain’s office and that — and she should knock it off.

He says he wasn’t saying to her, “You’re spending too much time with Senator McCain. It’s raising questions about a romantic relationship.”

WILLIAMS: And then the suggestion was that people cautioned Senator McCain about spending too much time with her and the appearance that it might create.

HUME: Nobody on the record has said…

WILLIAMS: OK.

HUME: Yes, but nobody on the record has said they did that.

WILLIAMS: You’re not going to get people on the record to say — but listen.

KRISTOL: Why not?

HUME: Why not?

WILLIAMS: The second part of it is…

HUME: Why not?

KRISTOL: Why not?

WILLIAMS: Because it’s sexual and people are — unless they saw them in the bedroom, you’re not going to make the claim.

KRISTOL: No, no, no, but…

WILLIAMS: And you must remember — hang on. Hang on a second. You’ve got to remember…

KRISTOL: If someone is going to caution Senator McCain, why is it unreasonable to say, eight years later, “If you think this is so important, if you had this conversation with Senator McCain, say it publicly?”

WILLIAMS: No, they don’t want to say it publicly. And you’ve got to remember the context here. There was an implosion in McCain’s campaign not long ago, and a lot of these people are, you know, soured on McCain, and they have a little bit of a grudge against McCain, because now he’s doing so well.

And those are the people who always talk to reporters. Guess what? That’s where reporters go to get sources, people with grudges.

The second thing to say is McCain has postured himself as a great reformer, and you’ve got to go back to the Keating Five, which is what the Times piece did, and say, “Wait a second. Don’t forget that this great reformer is now surrounded by lobbyists, including his own campaign manager, Rick Davis.”

WALLACE: Well, that brings me to a question.

Four of the five of us agree it was a lousy story, but is McCain vulnerable at all, Brit, to the larger story or the — not what the Times reported — that he does have a relationship with lobbyists, that this guy that portrays himself as Mr. Reformer, Mr. Clean, has flown around on corporate jets, has had relations with and done business with lobbyists, whether it’s proper or improper?

Isn’t that something that, for instance, Barack Obama could say, “Hey, you’re part of the problem in Washington?”

HUME: That is true. And that could be a vulnerability for the senator. What would be interesting to know is if you took a long look at Senator McCain’s record in dealing with lobbyists as chairman of the Commerce Committee, which he was for a long time, and in other ways, and could establish a pattern that he was easily lobbied — my sense is you wouldn’t be able to establish that pattern, that the truth about McCain — and many of his colleagues will say this — that he’s notoriously difficult to lobby, prickly, distant.

Now, look. You can’t be the chairman of a committee like the Commerce Committee and not have dealings with lobbyists. You simply do. But my guess is that those who flew Senator McCain somewhere in a corporate plane, or had him for dinner or whatever probably didn’t get much for their money.

WILLIAMS: You know, my sense is that Senator McCain is an honorable guy, from what I know. But let me just tell you. This is a vulnerability for the Republican Party going forward. Jack Abramoff — even this week you had a Republican congressman indicted.

KRISTOL: Who held the hearings…

WILLIAMS: And finally, let me just say this.

KRISTOL: Oh, come on. Who chaired the hearings on Jack Abramoff?

WILLIAMS: What he said — hang on. Hang on a second.

KRISTOL: Who chaired the hearings on Jack Abramoff? Just answer the question. Who chaired the hearings?

WILLIAMS: He has now postured himself as the great reformer, a man with clean hands. If he doesn’t have clean hands, he’ll be a hypocrite.

You can watch the smackdown here.