John McCain, once a media mingler, now keeps his distance

It has come to this for the presidential candidate who once, only partly in jest, referred to the press as "my base."

As The Ticket recently noted, the days when John McCain and a raft of reporters seemingly enjoyed kibitzing are long gone -- the victim of the pitched battle for the White House.

And the change is epitomized by the logistics aboard the jets carrying McCain and his rival, Barack Obama, from battleground state to battleground state.

Obama has never come close to emulating McCain's trademark mingling with the media. But The Times' Peter Nicholas, who has covered both men, relates that compared to the Obama campaign plane, McCain’s Straight Talk Air these days gives the candidate maximum privacy.

Here's Nicholas' report:

An opaque brown curtain separates McCain from the traveling press corps. It remained closed through most of the flight this morning from Nashville to Allentown, Pa. A flight attendant opened it during descent.

At no point was McCain visible. His motorcade dropped him near the front of the plane on the rainy tarmac in Nashville. McCain boarded and spent the rest of the flight in his front cabin.

By contrast, on Air Obama the Democratic nominee is separated from the press corps by a see-through curtain. Obama doesn’t often come back to the plane's press section, but by craning your neck you can often catch a glimpse of him in the front rows.  Such is what passes for access in the 2008 presidential race.

Is the McCain curtain ever open mid-flight?

“Never," an aide said.

If McCain wasn’t in evidence, his daughter, Meghan, pierced the curtain briefly to schmooze with a few reporters. She took up a position between life-sized cardboard cutouts of her father and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

One member of the news media did get access to McCain en route to the Pennsylvania stop. About 30 minutes into the flight, top McCain aide Steve Schmidt appeared and waved to conservative talk show host Sean Hannity.

Hannity came up, passed through the curtain and disappeared into McCain-land.

-- Don Frederick

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Photo credit: EPA

Comments

[Johnny]

So, I dont understand this article....what point are they getting at? McCain likes his privacy, so what...

http://www.FastArizona.com/McCain.html

[dsw]

Sean Hannity. Enough said.

Vote Obama as if your future depends on it!

[Archie haase]

In the year 2000 I liked what he McCain was about. I was angry with Bush in regards to the Karl Rove smear of McCain. Remember McCain having fathered a black baby? In 2000 John McCain did some straight talking. Now in 2008 he is so twisted in lies that he stays away to keep distance from his real truth. His real truth is he is old and tired, and he has distanced himself from integrity.

I am sure his integrity slipped mostly because of the religious GOP republican extremist right. I am sure that is why he chose(she seems to be one) the biker chick Amway queen iPalin on his ticket. wink wink

[Pax]

No doubt.....when the media is eating up everything he says...he's the media darling...now he bites the hand that made him what he is

[Big Bird]

I'm really frightened. I watch Sarah Palin whip the crowd to a frenzy much like lynch mobs in days past. This is reckless and dangerous behavior. Will nothing, short of an asassination cause her to think? Must Obama join JFK and RFK?
Sarah Palin is rapidly becoming a serious rascist instigator. Is John McCain not aware of the consequences of her behavior or doesn't he care anymore?

[Sokuto Jones]

Hannity allowed into McCain land, imagine that. This further proves that FOX news the talking point mouthpiece of the GOP and not a fair and balanced news organization.

[gmichaels]

DARE TO READ the unedited version of Sweet Sarah's answer to Katie Couric....

COURIC: 'Why should the government spend 700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street instead of giving the funds to ordinary citizens?'

PALIN (Unedited): “That’s what I say that I like every American I am speaking with we’re ill about this position that we been put in where it is taxpayers looking to bailout, but ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, um, helping the, oh, it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and, and, putting it back on the right track; so health care reform and reducing taxes and reigning in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans and trade... we have we got to see trade as an opportunity not as, a competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity, all of those things under the umbrella of job creation, this bailout is part of that...”

NOW DARE TO EXPLAIN this pile of incredibly incoherent Babble....

[Randy]

Why am I not surprised that it would be a Fixed News guy who'd get exclusive access to McCain? McCain seems to love having "yes" men/women around him.
People do seem to be most comfortable around their own kind. Someone ought to tell McCain that you can't be a maverick when all you've ever been is a sidekick.

[Obama - the Socialists' puppet]

Poor little media trolls have their feelings hurt?

I am sure this in somehow germane to the American public - you know; right up there with the $700,000,000,000 bailout and a worldwide war on terror - maybe I'm just too myopic to see the relative importance.

[sirma nicuz]

In this age of Ethics and internet communication, it is be impossible to hide the truth about anything. Nothing can be hidden from anyone, we are all exposed to our own deceptions, flaws of character and bad judgement.

[Axxe]

Hey, have you seen the new Sarah Palin bumper sticker?

"BY GOLLY, I MAKE GEORGE W. BUSH LOOK SMART"

[BK]

Who can blame Sen. McCain for keeping his distance? The vast majority of media members are Democrats and have an obvious agenda. The best tact he can take is to minimize his exposure to those who seek to harm his campaign and maximize his exposure to the electorate.

[Frank the Tank]

we as democrats need to engage other online newspapers and pose as republicans to enrage the democratic majority into voting for our candidate Obama.

[scootmandubious]

In the same way that 'swift-boating' has become the equivalent term to political slander, in the future, a McCain-style campaign' will become the term to use when a candidate's sole focus is to assassinate the character of their opponent.

That is his legacy.

I have just posted a fairly comprehensive piece on McCain's campaign tactics, and I was kind enough to let Mr. McCain have the last word, via video. It was a comment that he made 8 years ago...one that he will come to regret.

"McCain's Campaign Tactics Show He Is Unfit To Lead"
http://scootmandubious.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccains-campaign-tactics-show-he-is.html

[marve]

No harm is caused to him than other than his own political agenda and vp.

[RDG]

Hope the Democrats use this in ther campaign.
- Point #1 - McCain and Palin always uses the word VICTORY on the Iraqi war ... remember world history, somebody said there's NO WINNER in a war, everybody loses - lives lost, properties gone, etc.Who cares about winning the war, let's bring the troops home!

- Point #2 - Obama is being associated with these radicals but never put into court. What does McCain and Palin have in common???? They both love ETHICS! Seems like that's one requirement for Republicans - to have Ethics investigation in their resume.

[Paul Duvane]

In normal life the easy McCain access by reporters was something that both he and the press enjoyed. When you run for President, the landscape undergoes a dramatic shift. Now your "straight talk express" buddies are MSM reporters simply trolling for gaffes on their way to some sort of career boost. I suppose the biggest boost will go to the bigger buffoon.

Moreover, there is something to be said for NOT letting the biased MSM establish themselves as a "filter" for all that is good and liberal dogma between every candidate and the public. With Internet and cable, it is now very possible to get political messages across without a NYT/LAT/CBS/MSNBCN/ABC/NBC fuzzywuzzy. The notion that a candidate "must" be vetted by a Walter Cronkite wannabee is an obscene, bizzare and egotistical conviction held by nearly all diehard liberal reporters. I suggest that the MSM accept and adapt. You may want to write this down for them -- they will no longer be the dominate consideration facing every nomination. In fact, predictable endorsements by the media have become a serious liability for the endorsed candidates.

I would also dare say that there are more than a few million citizens who are pleased. Count me among them.