John McCain is quite the cranky old man in a TIME interview published today. But more importantly, this interview needs to be shown to as many journalists as possible. Read it here.
This is quite the exchange:
Q: Do you miss the old way of doing it?
A: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Q: Really? Come on, Senator.
A: I’ll provide as much access as possible …
Q: In 2000, after the primaries, you went back to South Carolina to
talk about what you felt was a mistake you had made on the Confederate
flag. Is there anything so far about this campaign that you wish you
could take back or you might revisit when it’s over?
A: [Does not answer.]
Q: Do I know you? [Says with a laugh.]
A: [Long pause.] I’m very happy with the way our campaign has been
conducted, and I am very pleased and humbled to have the nomination of
the Republican Party.
The theme of late is that the press knows McCain’s a good guy, and they’re not so sure about Obama (perfect example is CNN’s John King). They’ll cite Obama’s restricted access to the press corp, as compared to what they perceive as tons of access to McCain. That’s exactly why the press makes it seem like this election should largely be a referendum on Obama — because they’re sure that McCain is a “maverick.” They know McCain, is what they’d say, so there’s no sense in reporting that he might not be quite the maverick he claims he is. Well, I’d contend that they know the old McCain, but this new McCain is a separate entity unto itself, and this interview proves it.
If the press starts re-evaluating whether this is the McCain that they’ve come to respect, you better believe that such a narrative will be played out in the media. They don’t like being played, betrayed or locked out, and you better believe that it’s exactly what the McCain campaign is doing right now.
Andrew Sullivan points to a superb anti-McCain ad that is sincerely compelling.
It’s far and wide the best ad since the general election began. It’s extremely professionally done — great, vivid imagery with standard “washed-out” effects, great added shakiness to cameras to trigger emotions of uneasiness. It also features the best “McCain=Bush” line of comparison that I’ve heard so far — that not only has McCain voted with Bush, but that the percentage has increased almost as steadily as the public’s opinion of Bush has declined.
As I watched, I was eagerly awaiting an end with the normal “I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message” jargon…but none was found. Nope, it’s not from the Obama camp, but from a normal YouTuber.
Kind of sad. I love the Internet (clearly!), but I know that there’s a limited audience when YouTube is involved. It won’t reach the people who really need to see this, which is disheartening, because it should be seen by all.
It looks like the McCain camp is solidly convinced that the “Obama = Celeb” meme seems to be working.
They’ve released their third — yes, THIRD — ad on this subject:
Yes, it’s easy to hit McCain for not being “the original maverick,” but for being “the original celebrity.” Check out his IMDB profile, for instance. Look at that, he was on “24,” and was even in The Wedding Crashers. How nice of him.
But how’s this answer? With a framing like this, we’d stay “positive,” but also go for the jugular:
“There’s nothing wrong with capturing America’s imagination. John McCain seems to be forgetting why Americans are hoping for something new. He doesn’t give Americans enough credit — he takes us for fools, and thinks we’re supporting for Obama because he’s a ‘celebrity.’ The simple truth is it’s John McCain and George Bush’s policies that are causing Americans to dream for something better. And now he has the audacity to blame us for wanting more? He’s telling us not to be dreamers. He’s telling us ‘No We Can’t.’ It’s the ultimate pessimism. That’s not the American spirit, and that’s not what we stand for.”
Clearly this stuff is riling me up, as you can see by the last three posts, all on this subject.
