McCain: Criticizing the press?
Posted: Monday, June 09, 2008 9:11 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Politico's Martin sets the general election CW that the campaign never pushes back on: "Openly frustrated by what they see as an ongoing double standard in the press’s treatment of his campaign, Sen. John McCain and his aides have been aggressively denouncing unfavorable stories as ‘smear jobs’ and ‘scurrilous attacks,’ while the candidate himself has launched a series of stinging attacks on Sen. Barack Obama."
But is the candidate, himself, ready to concede this anti-McCain media narrative. Take a look at this
Newsweek's Q&A with McCain:
QUESTION: Want to back up a little bit and talk about press coverage. One of the things that you mentioned in your speech in New Orleans was that you felt that the media hadn't recognized had overlooked some of the attributes that Hillary Clinton had brought to the race. And I wondered --
MCCAIN: I did not [say that] -- that was in prepared remarks, and I did not [say it] -- I'm not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage … My supporters and friends can comment all they want about the press coverage, and that's their right. They're American citizens. I will not because I believe it's not a profitable enterprise for me to do so. I can't change any of the coverage that I know of except to just campaign as hard as I can and try to seek the approval of the majority of my fellow citizens.
So someone wrote about media bias in a speech and McCain edited it out himself. Hmmm, proof this is something that bothers staff more than it bothers the candidate? Or is this a good cop/bad cop strategy?
Now, THIS is a break. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's top domestic policy adviser, suggested that President Bush knows little about the economy beyond holding down tax rates -- perhaps the sharpest rhetorical break yet with the Bush administration. Bush and McCain share the same aims for the tax code, said Holtz-Eakin, a former Bush White House economist, adding, ‘Sadly, it seems that is all President Bush understood in the economy.’”
“White House spokeswoman Dana Perino replied, ‘Mr. Holtz-Eakin is entitled to his opinion.’”
Speaking of breaks, NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell reported over the weekend that McCain plans to open up all fundraisers to print pool coverage -- a change from just a few weeks ago, when McCain said he wouldn't open up his fundraisers to the press.
Part of Obama's Southern strategy for success involves a depression of turnout among evangelicals for McCain. The New York Times takes a look at McCain's supposed evangelical problem. “To address this, Mr. McCain’s campaign has been ramping up its outreach to evangelicals over the last month, preparing a budget and a strategic plan for turning them out in 18 battleground states this fall. The campaign has been peppering over 600 socially conservative grass-roots and national leaders with regular e-mail messages -- highlighting, for example, Mr. McCain’s statement criticizing a May 15 decision by the California Supreme Court overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, or his recent speech on his judicial philosophy. It has also held briefings for small groups of conservative leaders before key speeches. Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s senior advisers, recently sat down with a dozen prominent evangelical leaders in Washington, where he emphasized, among other things, Mr. McCain’s consistent anti-abortion voting record.”
