On Reliable Sources, Kurtz gets the panel to admit that the media is part of the McCain bubble and basically an extension of his campaign team in not so many words. And he’s cranky and he lies—Oh, my! And hey, Bumiller is new to the campaign so she doesn’t know how to play McCain’s game.
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KURTZ: But that suggests that the people who have been traveling with him regularly…
COX: Yes.
KURTZ: … become part of the bubble, part of the team?
COX: Become part of the bubble, and also, I mean, I think what happens is that you — if you’ve been covering him for a long time, there’s a sense that, well, he does that all the time, it’s not worth reporting, because he does — he’s a cranky old man. I mean, to be quite frank. You know, like, and also, I’ve gotten much tougher terseness than Bumiller got just there. And…
COX: But the cameras weren’t rolling. And also, we wrote it off to, like, you know, he hadn’t had his fifth cup of Starbucks today.
KURTZ: But is there a tendency for journalists to cut more slack for candidates who they have a lot of opportunity to talk, not necessarily because they like them, but because they’re not just getting one crack at that person for eight minutes every three days?
TAPPER: Yes. And that’s the exchange that the McCain people make now, and we’ll see if it lasts until November. But, you know, they have this constant access. I spent a couple weeks ago — I did a couple days with each of the candidates, Obama, Clinton, McCain. And I got more time with McCain — not just me, all of the press corps — in one day than I had gotten with the other two candidates the entire time.
And that’s the exchange. And from 80 percent of the time it’s to McCain’s benefit and 20 percent it’s not. But two points to make about that exchange.
One is “The New York Times” is not currently his favorite newspaper. And the other point is Elizabeth Bumiller was catching him in a lie that he told in 2004. He had been lying. He said no, he hadn’t had that conversation. So it was, by definition, a “gotcha” question, and he doesn’t like that, but he especially doesn’t like “The New York Times.“
Tapper finally says why McCain got angry on his bus. Bumiller caught McCain in a lie. It’s not a good thing for McCain that he was the one to have approached John Kerry to be VP back in ‘04 and doesn’t want to talk about it. The media now is admitting because of media access that they’ve become part of McCain’s team. And as usual, Amy Holmes says that it’s no big deal McCain has temper tantrums….So we finally have the media calling him McCranky which we can officially add to our ever expanding C&L list….
Update: Marcy Wheeler reminds me (yes, I forgot to add) about this remark from Ana Marie Cox on McCain’s media/barbecue:
KURTZ: And McCain did hold a barbecue for the press at his ranch in Sedona where some people were in attendance.
COX: Yes, uh, delicious dry rubbed barbecue ribs, actually, baby back ribs.
KURTZ: First hand report.
Goodness! Did Howie catch Ana Marie going easy on McCain because she loves slurping on his his ribs?
A press “critic” worth his salt, of course, might point out that journalists who haven’t been wined and dined by McCain might find the fact that he’s a cranky old man newsworthy–particularly for a guy auditioning to put his hands on the nuclear football. A “critic” might point out that that’s precisely the problem with the press’ little rib-sucking fun with McCain, it makes them less likely to actually report the things we might like to know about these guys.
Not surprisingly, the “critic” in question did none of those things. I suspect Howie’s just hoping to be invited next time around.
Filed Under: Election 08, John McCain, Media Bias, Media Criticism
Tags: Election 08, John McCain, Media Criticism, reliable Sources
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“I did a couple days with each of the candidates, Obama, Clinton, McCain. And I got more time with McCain — not just me, all of the press corps — in one day than I had gotten with the other two candidates the entire time.”
We can bitch about McCain getting better press, or we can acknowledge he is doing something better than us and implore our candidates to adapt
If you think the press is looking to make a story on the same drivel in his speeches, you’re crazy.
The press is only interested in gotcha stories that sell more. Maybe McNoob hasn’t figured that out or has incompetents in charge of his campaign.
Here’s a snippet of the exchange between the “journalist” Tucker Carlson and The Scotsman’s Gerri Peev after Peev’s interview with Obama’s adviser Samantha Powers “Hillary Clinton is a monster” comment:
CARLSON: Right. But I mean, since journalistic standards in Great Britain are so much dramatically lower than they are here, it’s a little much being lectured on journalistic ethics by a reporter from the “Scotsman,” but I wonder if you could just explain what you think the effect is on the relationship between the press and the powerful. People don’t talk to you when you go out of your way to hurt them as you did in this piece.
Don’t you think that hurts the rest of us in our effort to get to the truth from the principals in these campaigns?
PEEV: If this is the first time that candid remarks have been published about what one campaign team thinks of the other candidate, then I would argue that your journalists aren’t doing a very good job of getting to the truth.
Favorable press or not, this candidate is going to need more handlers in the general than the GOP can afford. How long do you think it will be before McCain will only be permitted to speak from scripts and cue cards? And as far as impromptu exchanges with the press in the future….furgettaboutit.
This is the very problem Tucker Carlson uncovered in his diatribe at the woman from the Scotsman who published the Monster quote. American journalists are too cozy with their political subjects and do not ask the tough questions.
As for the NYT, they unloaded on him again this morning, showing the world that this cranky old man is also very, very damaged goods. He may not live out a term, especially if he happens to stay in the sun too long. They also showed the callowness and untestedness of Obama. Not good. So what, we’re gonna run a green, untested political neophyte against a cancer-ridden cranky old man? Come on people, Please wake up and see that Clinton is the country’s best chance.
I don’t know what to make of this: http://bp3.blogger.com/_a7jkcM.....slaves.jpg
Ignorant fear bating and racist on an otherwise interesting site… I’m shocked that it’s posted there…
The video is proof that our candidates need to learn how to play the media game as it is established at this moment. I keep hearing from different pundits that Clinton and Obama are trying to play the refs in terms of the type of coverage they’re getting. McCain on the other hand isn’t playing the refs, he’s courting them. That’s how he’s able to get the positive coverage. I also heard a reporter on either CNN or MSNBC, I can’t remember which one, say that Obama needs to treat the press that’s following him daily better if he wants better coverage. I know this sounds bad, but this is the life of a candidate now. Clinton and especially Obama (since the press is starting to feel comfortable saying this) better get on the stick and play the game or else these so-called Kingmakers will fry him. Don’t believe me? Ask Al Gore. If you can’t ask him, read Somersby @ the daily howler.
If the media is apart of the “McCain bubble” then they must be an out and out arm of the Obama campaign.
“Keating Five” McCain reminds me of Oscar the Grouch.
Let’s go over it again:
1) Public confusion
2) Frequent memory lapses
3) Unpredictable/inappropriate mood swings
4) Poor impulse control
If these symptoms are present in a 72-year-old male, a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease is strongly suggested.
Frankly, I doubt if Mr. McCain knows that he’s lying much of the time. He probably doesn’t remember what he’s said or done.
For that matter, I have to doubt that Mr. McCain remembers what was done to him. How else can you explain the fact that he’s now taking political advice from Karl Rove, the architect of the Bush smear machine that destroyed McCain’s campaign in 2000? Either Mr. McCain can no longer fuller appreciate how Bush and Rove slimed him, or Mr. McCain is a spineless political whore.
Is it any wonder that John McCain is no less than Indecision 2008’s version of The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang?
(In case you ask, he was a recurring character in the old “Toonerville Folks” cartoon by Fontaine Fox [1884-1964], as appeared 1908-1955 alongside The Skipper, The Physically-Powerful Katrinka, Mickey McGuire “Himself,” Aunt Eppie Hogg [The Fattest Woman in 3 Counties] and plenty more where they came from. Not to mention The Toonerville Trolley That Met All the Trains, a monument of decrepitude mixed with futility.)
OMG! I have something in common with a right-winger! I don’t like the New York Times, either!
Ask yourself: what team did the N.Y. Times become a part of when it hired Bill Kristol? When it buried a story for the President? When Judy Miller published White House WMD talking points?
The bubble is expanding.
If the MSM wonders why they are increasingly irrelevant, listen to the above dialogue. A group of hacks admitting their complicity with wacky Mac selling his lies. Pathetic losers, hopefully with short careers.
McCain the Liar @ 2:
#556, thanks! ;}
Friday’s McAKA’s
McAsshat – also see McDarthVaguer
McHotHead – wows reporters
by handling confrontations
like yer crazy pissed-off grandpa
yellin’ at the Thanksgiving turducky
just before
you put him in ‘the home’.
McFlashback – cuz life was so much simpler
when it was
‘shoot first, ask questions never’.
McHotShotz – longs for the days
when it was all about
the charlie scene,
not nakedly gunning
to be nationally lampooned.
McFruitcake – repackaged, unpalatable
afterthought
yer more traditional retards
keep sendin’ yer way,
and you keep sendin’ it back
– always goin’ postal somewhere…
ManiaMcal - just how bad can it be
when a 90 year old man
flies off the handle?
Well…we may find out
how good his bowel control is.
McUrinaryTract - is unstable!!
Look out, he’s gonna blow!
INCOMING!!!!!
“Better to be pissed off
than pissed on,
pissants peasants my friends!!”
HolyMcFreak – is McNut going McInsane?
This is totally McCrazy!!
Contard says ‘what?’
Johnny McWarrior -”I quit
my anger management classes
cuz
they really PISSED ME OFF!”
McPoopEye - the McSailorman:
Look out!
He’s going for the can of Spinach!
He’s McPoopEye the McSailor man….
He lives in a garbage can……
he’ll stomp on your balls,
just before the old coot falls,
McPoopEye the McSailor man
TOOT! TOOT!
McSailorman – See McPoopEye…TOOT! TOOT!
McCranky - the new Presidential hamburger,
with lots of Amato’s,
and a long list of other ingredients.
See McCrabapple.
McCrabapple - the COOL dessert
that comes with the McCranky.
McFucking - code for early morning hours,
around 3am -
“Don’t wake me up
at 3:00 in the McFucking morning!”
McCampaign - the one progressives have already begun against the dangerously unfit, unstable warprofithero.
McAuthoritarian – will tell you “WHAT you know”
in the great disdainful tradition
of the master
of the known, known universe,
Donald ‘Ducky’ Dumsfeld.
Often mistaken for cranky,
he’s actually
just a condescending prick;
it’s his default setting.
McNursingHome – finding one
resembling 1600 P.A.
is VP search team’s
top secret priority
– might as well keep
the demented old bastard happy
in his last year(s)…
McIrritableBowelSyndrome – and just a matter
of time
‘til he craps out.
McDeal – the lobbyhookermilf held up his ‘end’,
so the PAXman
could gobble up
more propagandation stations.
Waka waka, baby!
McEnd – is actually near his middle,
but may have begun the beginning
of the end for McLobbyistLover.
McMonification – continues unabated since the Mc’s began here.
The gauntlet cutlet was thrown down
on 2/16/08 at 6:04 PM – PST.
Some nobody
is keeping track of the McScore,
but McSprience won’t count
cuz the scorekeeper can’t tell
wtf it means.
McGramps - In answer to Hillary’s
“Who would you rather have answer
‘the phone’ at 3a.m”?
He responds, “Well…
(sounding as much like Raygun as possible) . . .
Me, my friends. Because, my friends,
I am usually already up at 3a.m.,
trying to scare a stream of piss
into getting past a prostate
the size of Bill O’Reilly’s head,
My friends.
Now, you, my friends,
can all just go fuck yourselves!”
- but he coulda just been crabby
because she was keeping him
from getting to the early bird special.
McCoot - seems to get a little McCrabby
with reporters
who don’t kiss his ass…
You ever notice
how Brian Williams’ face
is crooked?
His nose is off-center,
kind of skewed
off to the right side (no pun).
Probably the result
of a tragic sphincter collision
…just sayin’…
McAngryOldFart
McStinkyDepends
McGeezer - if he steals into the White House
they’re gonna hafta retrofit
the big red Nuke button
with Teh Clapper!
McCrabbypatty
McWhatTheFuck - desperate to inject some excitement
into their coverage of him,
the media is rumored
to have a contest going
to see who can get him
the most riled,
cuz he’s funny
when he’s blowin’ a gasket…
McPissed-off - any of us’d probably be
just as ornery
if dumbya gave us his endorsment
for any fucking thing…
Good luck
ya old,
lying,
hypocritical
piece’a garbage.
McFederalSavings&LoanCriminal
McFlipFlopper
McPruner
McBombIran
McHundredYears
McLuvMeCuzI’mRambo
McBushie
McBully
McIThinkI’mMessyDownThere
McSnippy - gonna get his ass kicked
when he starts
“hauling off and punchin’” reporters.
That’s not a good strategy
for sewin’ up an election…timmeh!!
McAssault&Battery - electoral strategy
sure to come into play soon…
his supporters believe
the senile geezer card is a real gem.
Who wouldn’t vote for their old man, yeah!?
Sheer genius! Go for it…timmeh!!
Meta McMucil
Mc….Doh!
McNeocon
McMetamucil - is gettin’ all jammed up cuz
“they never asked Bush any real questions!”
McLOL!! – proper formal response
to an exceptionally funny McAKA,
of which there are many… McLOL!!
Thanks all you McContributors ;-}
McBullshit - the kittycat
was already out of the bag
on Dumsfeld’s ouster
long before the msm
or McRevisionist
called it.
McPathologicalLiar - “I was for Rumsfeld
before I was against him.”
I guess Iraq
would be in great shape right now,
if it hadn’t been for the way
Baron von Rumsfeld
chose to occupy it?
“That’s, my friends
what I’ve said, my friends,
from the beginning, my friends.”
McCan-Can - ain’t been kickin’ his heels up
like he used ta
since he got that
crumpled concave shoulder
from too many mancrushes.
Before that,
you-was-a-bad-a-dancer,
McCancer.
McManlyMan - is attracting himself
some male news anchors
with his musky goodness…
Oh, Tweety…
Just come out already.
McWarrior - his body is a shell
…so is his g-damn head.
He belongs in
one of our great vet hospitals.
Instead he’s runnin’,
for retired senile Prez.
McCompromised - buckled, concave,
shadowy ethics
may fatally wound his ambitions.
Cindy McCodeine - doesn’t have
a Snowballs chance in Phoenix
of keeping
her deeply flawed character
and criminal past
away from public scrutiny,
no matter how hard
the Main Stream Motherfuckers
push perfect Barbi
as the perfect wife
of the moderatificated maverick
non-Republican Republican.
McCNN -
“McCain Nothintaseeheremovealong News”.
The genpop ain’t gonna buy
the ‘liberal media’ smokescreen
forever, msmotherfuckers.
Cindy McMorphine - Johnny ain’t
the only ’straight shooter’
in da houuuuse.
When will some reporter
Stir things up and note how Fryed she be?
McRightFrigginNuts - only chance to win
is if H&O destroy each other,
which is pretty pathetic.
McAlmostDead - needs to stay out of the light
if he hopes to survive til November.
McAngerManagement –
how sad were you
when you found out that
mediocre formula comedian
Adam Sandler
was a pube?
The repigs get all the great ones…lol.
McHillary - favorite term of non-endearment
used by rovian ratfuckers
and rabid Obama supporters
alike.
“The enemy of my enemy
is my friend.”
If you count rovian ratfuckers
among your friends,
how does that
make you a progressive?
Rome wasn’t unbuilt in a day, dipshits.
Sometimes the best you can do
is the (perceived) lesser of two evils.
Deal with it,
or the Supreme Court
will deal you out.
McFortinbras - ‘And it came to pass
that McFortinbras wandered by
in his walker
and he did poke the corpses
upon the field of battle.
And thus he spake:
” I guess that makes me King.
Thank you.Thank you very much.”’
The full Shakespearian account of McFortinbras here and here.(Rated PDG x PG - Pretty Damn Good by Peter G.– lotsa lols)
Keep McPileing on McCainophobes! The current McList numbers 554 and the entire list will be updated Sundays or whenever the hell I feel like it, and links will be posted on McDamnthisisgettingtobeareallyfuckinglonglistalmostlikeafulltimejob and/or Open threads daily (owthIfli) as well as the previous day’s contributions.
“Shorter lists are funnier” generally holds true, and very well may re the McList. McCainophobes are diverse and eclectic, and I’ve enjoyed many lols, LOLs, LOL!s and Ha ha’s here. I’m reluctant to exclude any McEntry, ’cause they’re all funny/pointed/cathartic to varying degrees, and the sheer length of the entire list has a humorous quality of its own.
We are also generating denigrating McMemes, some of which may be useful, in a memie sort of way. The thuglicontards are very aware of the usefulness of denigrating memes, and it won’t hurt to put out a few of our own.
That being said, a Top 11, Dirty Dozen, etc. are considerations, for those (myself included, usually) who like things condensed to essentials.
Will update at my convenience or tolerable inconvenience on pertinent threads.
You have to admit that as liberals we have a sincere dilemna. It’s just not in our nature to beat up on senior citizens. This isn’t going to be easy.
libhomo @ 9:
McCain reminds me of Oscar the Grouch. Actually, “my friend”, he is ‘johnny one note’.
one word, Revko!
Obomb a - Obama loses.
I loved Kurtz’ whitewashing of the recent NYT lobbyist story on McCain as something “that was widely criticized by many of us in the profession.” Way to dig into McCain’s record, Howie.
McCain lied!
mmmm
Delicious Dry Rub BBQ Ribs!!!
danny @ 18:
?????
Saying that our candidates need to adopt an approach to the media similar to the one McCain has been using assumes that the media would then give our candidates the same level of deference that they give to McCain.
Frankly, I don’t see that happening.
If the media were mostly journalists who understood the value of actually investigating leads and writing substantive stories, I might not be so pessimistic. However, as someone noted above, the clip shows a clot of hacks sitting around a table, coughing up their opinions about stuff which most of us here are just as qualified to weigh in on.
They are as useful as commentators on televised sporting events. A guy from the Tarheels dunks over a Blue Demon and Dick Vitale screams, “What a dunk!” Well, no kidding Dick. I just saw it with my own eyes.
In truth, Vitale’s outbursts offer nothing to the understanding of the game itself, just as the jabbering of the journalists in the clip offer nothing.
Proud2bHumble @ 15:
This is absolutely priceless! Thank you! Is it just me or does he looks like some pasty white, sickly looking ghoul with pinpoints for eyes? Maybe we should add: McPillsburyDoughMan to the list? His face is absolutely frightening.
McSkullandBonesWannabee
Makes sense to me, it’s kind of like embedded reporters with our troops.
Or the Stockholm syndrome.
I wouldn’t mind being enbedded with Lara Logan.
osiris @ 24:
Yes we should, lol.
#561, tancz!
;-}
Sidney Scooter III @ 25:
#562, skanks! oops! thanks!
;}
ysbaddaden @ 26:
Inbedded?
Comedian and perennial presidential candidate Pat Paulsen bumped into Bob Dole during the ‘96 campaign, and ran a joke by him. Dole didn’t laugh, but merely harumphed, at which point Paulsen (who was the same age as Dole) said, “That’s OK. I get grumpy too when I haven’t had my nap”.
The Daily Howler nailed back in 2000!
http://www.dailyhowler.com/h022500_1.shtml
29 Proud2bHumble Says: ysbaddaden @ 26:
Makes sense to me, it’s kind of like embedded reporters with our troops.
Or the Stockholm syndrome.
I wouldn’t mind being enbedded with Lara Logan.
Inbedded?
Only if she spreads them first.
Yes, The Mac and Hillary Show offer us the same “looking back in anger” song Oasis gave us a few years back. But they forgot something - something Obama remembers. The song says “don’t look back in anger”. What we need is a tomorrow we can define. Not a tomorrow defined by the burdens of yesterday. Being better than yesterday is a pretty loe aim. We want a tomorrow we can build. More on this in my blog at http://angryafrican.wordpress......lary-show/
ysbaddaden @ 32:
Just show her yer GOPrince Albert, lol.
Proud2bHumble @ 34:
My Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring won’t work?
ysbaddaden @ 35: