In his own words: John McCain on politicians and the media
Below is a passage from a major speech given today in Columbus, Ohio by Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. It's a fairly trenchant, and many would say accurate, description of the sometimes socially destructive synergy between politicians making charges and the media reporting on them.
The Ticket covered the rest of the senator's speech in a Breaking News item available here.
"In his/her own words" is a regular feature of The Ticket in which we print some public remarks in total without interruption or comment.
"The hectic but repetitive routine of presidential campaigns often seems to consist entirely of back-and-forth charges between candidates, punctuated by photo ops, debates and the occasional policy speech, followed by another barrage of accusations and counter-accusations, formulated into the soundbites preferred by cable news producers.
"It is a little hypocritical for candidates or reporters to criticize these deficiencies. They are our creation. Campaigns and the media collaborated as architects of the modern presidential campaign, and we deserve equal blame for the regret we feel from time to time over its less than inspirational features.
"Voters, however, even in this revolutionary communications age, with its 24-hour news cycle, can be forgiven their uncertainty about what the candidates actually hope to achieve if they have the extraordinary privilege of being elected president of the United States. We spend too little time and offer too few specifics on that most important of questions.
"We make promises, of course, about what kind of policies we would pursue in office. But they often are obscured, mischaracterized and forgotten in the heat and fog of political battle."
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: NBC
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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These are John McCain's "own words", eh?
Right. And, Ensign McCain graduated at the
top of his Naval Academy class too!
Perhaps, NBC Tim Russert's chief assistant
provided the script. Free Ride on the McCain
Forked-Tongue Express....
Posted by: ABE | May 15, 2008 at 10:34 PM
preemptively-declared would-be-nominee mccain's relentlessly repeated promises to perpetuate war and terror, among others, are unforgotten - if not by him, then by the people he now presumptuously offers to 'forgive' their sound rejection of his character, should they be coaxed to vote for him despite this: his declaration and confession that he never meant what he said and lied all along, is one more confirmation that he would betray the people and his country only to get elected - or at any time; this can only serve to demonstrate his abject insincereness, and unelectability. if he never meant to bomb-bomb-bomb iran, or to perpetuate war and terror in the middle east for 100 years, and it was only 'fog of war' to get elected, it still shows that his attitude is outright dangerous; and that anything else he might now propose is fog and worthless propaganda too. the true candidate for PRESIDENT, RON PAUL has a consistent record of integrity, and a clear and vital constitutional message. on nov. 4th, millions of people will opt for truth - they see right through the fog and propaganda war, and will not forget the 4th candidate for PRESIDENT, RON PAUL.
Posted by: dave | May 15, 2008 at 10:49 PM
Why is it that McCain's speech leaves me feeling like I got slimed. I am a Republican but clearly McCain is flipping on the war now. Is the boarder next?
Help God the GOP has lost it's mind. I guess I could vote for Ron Paul, he's been screaming at us for so long about the maddness of spending 1.5 trillion a year on this war.
I just did the numbers in my head. McCain is ready to accept another 4K dead and 20K wounded before he leaves office.
And what do I a GOP supporter and state Delegate get?
5.00 Gas, No affordable housing, unsafe bridges, Bread that costs more than a Gallon of Gas, higher prices for everything and a savings account that keeps going down even though I buy less, Drive less, watch few movies, travel less, Call less and oh yes PRAY MORE.
The GOP leadership has completely lost it. After voting Republican for 30 years I have had enough. It is time to toss out all the GOP leadership NOW!
Posted by: Paul and one more thing | May 16, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Now read it again, remembering that a speech-writer wrote it. Who's probably miffed his 'golden words' don't get reported and quoted in full.
Posted by: Tom J | May 16, 2008 at 08:48 AM