LET’S TALK ABOUT MEDIA ‘BOYCOTTS’…. By now, I suspect most people have seen the breathtaking interview between Joe Biden and Barbara West of WFTV in Orlando, in which, by any reasonable standard, West’s questions fell somewhere between “ridiculous” and “in need of medication.”
Soon after, the Obama campaign realized there wasn’t much point in talking to Barbara West. She’s not really a journalist, the campaign wouldn’t be treated professionally, and there’s no real point in having a dialog.
In response, John McCain is now whining to Fox News’ Sean Hannity about the Obama campaign’s media “boycotts.” McCain said, “[I]f anybody in the media, much less Joe the Plumber asks a tough question, then they’re boycotted. They pull their ads, etc.”
I sincerely wonder about McCain’s grip on reality sometimes. Amanda Terkel noted the irony of McCain’s latest complaints.
* McCain canceled an appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live after CNN’s Campbell Brown conducted a tough interview with McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds about Palin’s foreign policy experience.
* Last month, the McCain campaign barred New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd from flying on both the McCain and Palin press planes after she wrote a negative column.
* McCain campaign officials barred Time’s Joe Klein from traveling with them, after he asked McCain an uncomfortable question about foreign policy.
* Campaign officials have repeatedly gone on air to bash journalists after tough interviews, saying that Katie Couric asked Palin “a series of trapdoor questions,” the New York Times “cast aside it’s journalistic integrity to advocate for the defeat of John McCain,” and demanded that the media treat Palin with “deference.”
I’d just add one other important note — McCain’s whining came during an interview with Sean Hannity. Did McCain not appreciate the irony? McCain was groaning about Obama avoiding “tough questions” from professional journalists, while McCain palling around with a right-wing clown who got the interview because McCain knows there won’t be any “tough questions.”
Has there ever been a more inane presidential campaign?
