Bumpy Ride for the Straight Talk Express

[Hope And Change]

Rerouting McCain's Bus

Frustrations Lead Campaign To Limit Reporters' Access

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 4, 2008; Page C01

KANSAS CITY While the traveling press corps was shipped off to a barbecue restaurant here, John McCain charmed his way through an interview with a local TV reporter. Surae Chinn of KCTV posed such less-than-penetrating questions as "How important is Missouri?" and "Have you chosen a running mate?" and -- addressing the candidate's wife, Cindy -- "How do you make your marriage work?"

Moments later, though, the Republican candidate seemed to grow annoyed with the Kansas City Star's Steve Kraske, who pressed him on his recent comment that "nothing is off the table" when it comes to strengthening Social Security.

When Kraske said that McCain presumably wasn't ruling out a payroll tax hike, McCain interrupted: "That's presuming wrong." When the reporter rephrased the question, McCain said: "If you want to keep asking me over and over again, you're welcome to."

It was a brief moment of friction that highlighted how the captain of the Straight Talk Express is having a bumpier ride with journalists than when he ran for president eight years ago. The popular image of the campaign -- McCain bantering with national journalists in the back of his bus -- has, in reality, all but vanished. The traveling press is now routinely stiffed in favor of five-minute sit-downs with local reporters.

At the same time, the Arizona senator is having trouble making news, or at least news that advances his campaign's goals, and when he does it is often reacting to the media hurricane that surrounds Barack Obama.


more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/03/AR2008080301851.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Gramps can only field softball questions, and town-hall questions

by regular citizens who can't follow up or challenge his responses the way a professional journalist would. Real journalists scare him, and for good reason. They're starting not to care that he was a POW 40 years ago.

[Spazito]

2. Whoa, I had to check twice to be sure this was a "Howie" piece....

it is so......unlike him, he is normally so far up the repubs' asses his pen scratches their ears. It's actually a relatively honest column, who'd a thunk it!

[speedoo]

3. Obama's going to own this turd in the debates.

Obama could destroy him if he wanted to but it won't be necessary, or advisable, IMO.

[FrenchieCat]

4. I'll await real evidence of Journalists actually doing their job when covering McCain

before buying Howie's take on this.

I trust that guy almost as much as I trust McCain, i.e., not at all.

[Doctor_J]

5. Since his poll numbers are growing every day, I don;t see how this makes any sense

:shrug:

[madeline_con]

6. KC BBQ is better than what McCaint's dishing out. n/t