Free Ride: John McCain and the Media
By John Amato Friday Feb 22, 2008 11:06am
David Brock and Paul Walderman have written a new book called: Free Ride: John McCain and the Media about the love the press has showered John McCain with. Grab a copy...
Joe Connelly emailed this article around yesterday:
McCain is allowed to dominate any and every issue on which he chooses to cross the aisle in Congress. He is omnipresent on Sunday talk shows.
Between 1997 and 2006, McCain had 135 appearances as a guest on "Meet the Press," "This Week" and "Face the Nation," far more than runner-up Joe Biden with 91. McCain was usually able to hold forth alone rather than sharing the stage.
The favorable press coverage has airbrushed McCain's temper and remarks that would get any other politician in trouble.
It was, after all, McCain who referred to Leisure World as "Seizure World." He once joked: "The nice thing about getting Alzheimer's is you get to hide your own Easter eggs."
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FOIST!
FRIST?
Ah...but seriously folks...McBain is a grumpy old sumbitch.
AARGH !!
Ok, well-- I have to admit the Easter egg joke made me chuckle. What a comedian.
I will certainly vote for him... if he goes on America's Got Talent.
MWAHAHAHAHAAAA!
My mom had Alzheimer's, and I consider his remark is inexcusable.
What an unmitigated POS.
*
Here
"Make no mistake, what Shuster said was pretty stupid and in bad taste. But was it the worst thing ever said about Chelsea Clinton in the public arena?
Not even close.
"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." -- Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998."
If he had any opposition in Arizona to become senator, he wouldn't be senator. Why are we always voting for the incumbant? It's not just Arizona.
Using our past two elections as outcome indicators. Sadly I'll have to give Boosh McCain the advantage.
2000 and 2004 was won fair and square right?
Please - I BEG the Democrats in Congress to FIGHT THIS TIME!
Get as many Democrat Senators/Congresspersons on television (who are PREPARED) and CHALLENGE the press and the conventional wisdom that has been framed by the Republican Party. Keep repeating the fact that the media LOVES John McCain, and then point out McCain's ties to lobbyists and his constant pandering.
You must push the issue and never stop. The Republicans will smear Obama at every turn and to counter that, every Democrat needs to get on television and CALL THEM OUT!
Aren't you guys tired of losing yet?
Get coordinated and FIGHT!!!
In a nation with a population of over 300 million why is this man holding ANY public office much less being considered as a presidential contender? He is in his 70s, he was physically, emotionally and psychically abused for over 5 years and bears the scars. Why does anyone want him to be president.
The older I get, the less I understand about humans in general and the citizens of this country in particular.
Here's what the media also overlooked: McCain Lobbied FDA For Early Approval of Viagra
ChrisM70 @ 11:
It's Anti-War Obama against Vietnam war hero Sen. John Duke Booshem 3 McCain.
Isn't the picture on this book jacket showing a subliminal halo around St. John's head?
Slippers
Thongs
Zorries
Flip-flops
McCains
Chicken Little - NOT!! @ 12:
With age comes knowledge and wisdom.
The system goes after youth always because they are the easiest to exploit and manipulate.
Flap-Jack my personal fav.
I am watching The Young Turks on the internet right now and John Amato is on. I think that John should go through the stargate and recruit some of the friendly aliens to fight the repugs that have invaded earth.
rightsmart @ 15:
I'm thinkin they're stink-lines.
The lobbyist candidate.
Corporate media united with the RW will crush Obama.
Need a fighter like this:
"Clinton: Obama Untested, Just Like Bush Was"
Ouch.
L.A. Confidential @ 17:
The older you get the more you appreciate that you never really knew all that stuff you thought you did when you were invincible.
Grampa derives pleasure from cruelty, like The Shrub, like neo-cons, and like a significant portion of filthy repubs.
He did the Janet Reno joke, too?
Somebody ought to compile Grampa's top 10 list of cruel jokes, to let the electorate see what kind of creature they'd be wasting their vote on.
I'm going to laugh my ass off when John McCain wins the White House because the Republicans were able to nominate Barack Obama with the help of young college republicans, staffers and unwitting democratic voters.
We have such an amazing candidate in Hillary Clinton and it would be just stupid if republicans were able to turn the tide just enough to take away our chances at taking back the White House. Then I'm going to cry.
Another Right wing moron.
Yea, sure, that's who we need for our President.
Lollimom @ 23:
Hey, he's got to get revenge on brown people for the 5 years he was a POW.
Danny @ 24:
Please post a picture of you without your ass if and when that scenario happens (a big *if*, by the way).
FSU active.
http://www.isepp.org/Pages/06-07%20Pages/Ruse.html
There is one person who has gotten more deference and love from the press than John MCain:
George W. Bush.
Danny @ 24:
Aw c'mon Danny...No way in tarhooties in McBain gonna win over ANY Dem opponent! As mobilized and pumped up as the voters are (to get a dem in the WH) there will be dems and independents voting for Obama (or Hillary) in numbers FAR outnumbering the regressive voters.
We will have victory in November!
Danny @ 24:
You really think that the republicans are the reason Obama is going to beat Clinton? I think that's crazy talk, but it's your opinion. I would like to say that Obama has been shown in a number of polls to be MORE likely to convert Republicans to vote for him than Clinton was. She was a more divisive figure in the minds of independents and moderate Republicans - they were NEVER going to vote for her.
Some people discount it, but to the voter who doesn't follow politics, they only vote on what they see - and what they see in Obama is a charismatic man who can inspire people and get them to believe in him - a HUGE change over Bush and I think that this will end up being a very good thing for this country.
Ok...everyone, have a kickass weekend. I'm gonna go get me a big ol' sammich and do me some laundries, and maybe imbibe a beer or two. PEACE!
ChrisM70 @ 31:
Yeah!
Danny @ 24:
I won't be laughing my ass off. I will be wondering why we are still using voting machines made by right wing corporations.
One must admit, the "easter eggs" comment is pretty funny...
Ron @ 26:
I did not know VietNam was in the middle East. :-)
The Dude @ 36:
They are still brown people.
True Genius is the ability to manipulate the rules and carve and mold a new reality without being influenced and held back and paralyzed by the limitations of the norm, fear, and conformity. And most importantly without violating the laws of civilization and the rest of humanity in the process.
After 8 years of radical conservatism it should be clear these people aren't genius. Just shallow, ego and greed driven people desperate to keep their fading industrial age dogma patched together for however long it can last.
And Rush Limbaugh questions why people aren't out smothering them with "eternal love".
How can Love respond to ugliness of this nature?
It can't. It's impossible.
Right Wing Readying Scandal Attack Against Democrats?
This from Towleroad....
Eeek?!
I hate Bill O'Reilly.
Danny @ 24:
Yeah, she is such an Amazing candidate... that she voted to OK both the Iraq war AND the Kyl Lieberman resolution on Iran, and to boot she decided the FISA vote was not important enough to show up for it.
But I am sure, that once she gets elected. Mrs. Clinton will surely do a heck of a job.... she just spent her tenure in the Senate getting the well deserved rest she needed to make a kick ass president, and gain "experience."
BTW, just to clear things up. Experience is a neutral concept, this is... experience does not imply good or bad character on its own. A murderous drug king pin, for example, may have a lot of "experience" yet I would not consider his character to be good by any stretch of the imagination.
So other than provide us with fear, which has been the GOP MO for the past decade (what a coincidence, eh?)... Does Hillary have anything else to offer?
I don't consider either Hillary nor Obama to be stellar candidates, alas the Dem public seems to be putting their support on Obama. Does Hillary have such a sense of entitlement for the White House as to act so petulant and petty?
Danny @ 39:
Don't hate. Hatred is the mind set they want to drag you down into. Thats the whole agenda of the Radical Right. It's what they live for.
If humanity is going to survive we're going to have to rise above hate and become geniuses at neutralizing fear and hatred.
Hatred is weakness. Not Strength.
Ron @ 37:
I thought that for the untrained redneck eye, Asian folk were considered "Yellow" people.
The Dude @ 42:
It doesn't matter to a right wing white racist.
L.A. Confidential @ 41:
Showering you enemy with good intentions, instead of the blows it rightfully deserves, will only get you killed.
Hate is a natural state, self survival is inherent to humans, and it is what allows you to fight and survive. People who deny it, are only denying their own human nature. Hate focused on the right thing is much better than passivity masquerade as high moral ground.
If you think that ignoring a roach infestation is the best way of dealing with it, don't act surprised when you have to be evicted of your own house because the little critters took over.
+I’m going to laugh my ass off when John McCain wins the White House because +the Republicans were able to nominate Barack Obama with the help of young +college republicans, staffers and unwitting democratic voters.
+
+We have such an amazing candidate in Hillary Clinton and it would be just stupid +if republicans were able to turn the tide just enough to take away our chances at +taking back the White House. Then I’m going to cry.
+
I totally agree Obama has no clue what is going to hit not only the Democratic Party but it will fill two fold issues of the deep divide of bias in America.
Especially by those of the Deep South. Black bias is going to fuel anti-Obama support that will diminish Black support of any kind of governance. Obama has created an over whelming expectations that will be hard to achieve. Failing is not an option and the Black community that dismisses Hillary Clinton will soon find out exactly that the electorate has been manipulated, and the Black are fooled again.
I too believe, the Republicans have charged up the independent vote to such a point, the caucuses are mixed and corrupted. Even many journalists are saying now, admitting what they knew all along, Republicans can vote twice and pad the vote.
Ladies and Gentleman of American the statistics do not fit for Obama to win ten to a dozen straight elections. Even Obama himself said the odds are he should not be there. Actually Hillary Being a statesman, or states person accepting the situation is something the Mainstream Media is gagging on and trying to demonize as Hillary is toast and a looser, but shows that character of doing what is best for the country she loves. But in all actuality for those of us in the know, Hillary is teaching everyone a very important thing. The Media corruption all the while to sacrifice a win. She is too kind in any of the debates.
Here's the latest video clip on McCain from "Brave New Films" and Robert Greenwald regarding the whole lobbyist hoo-hah:
http://therealmccain.com/friends.php
zorro @ 45:
Hillary is that you?
all you need to know is this....
NUCLEAR McCAIN!
BOMBS AWAY!
Oh, big deal. Being Tim Russert's favorite senator and being a presidential candidate are two entirely different things, as we're seeing in this week's press. McCain does at times show flashes of principle and judgement in the senate (though it doesn't seem to have much effect on his votes), but in the Senate nobody seems to mind if public image and behind the scenes conduct don't match up. This comes back to haunt presidential candidates every time.
We've elected exactly two sitting senators in the past -- John Kennedy and Warren Harding. It seems we're going to have a third this time, but Obama and Clinton aren't as tainted by the Senate virus as McCain. Obama's too new and Clinton's been a full time presidential candidate since 2000. McCain is this year's Bob Dole.
I don't really agree with this piece. I mean, you don't have to agree with McCain's politics (which is fine) but his going on TV often was not only good strategy but also showed guts. Lots of right wingers refuse to go on TV because they might have to answer for their BS. McCain has put himself out there at least which can't be said for Bush...or many other politicians for that matter.
btw, all these people that are offended about the jokes...don't play into the stereotypes people have for Liberals. Show some backbone and stop looking for things to be offended about. I think the war in Iraq, and the destruction of the constitution are offensive enough.
Mc seems to have done a lot for his media pals. What's he done for GE, owners of Meet the Press anyhoo?
FREE RIDE MCCAIN??Hell you have got to be kidding. The one getting the free ride is obama. Gee I almost choked on my coffee this morning when I saw a negative mention about him not attending the black forum..
After all they and the cod piecers are the ones who put him where he is.
if his prostate baloons up bush will have nowhere to stick his dick in mccdrools anus!!!sigh!
Maybe the real story here is how McCain the media stalker hounds the press 24/7/365 in order to foist his bullshit "straight talk" narrative onto the public.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
As McCain put it during a campaign stop in Indiana Friday, "I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon."
There's a way to open up new diplomatic relations. Tell the leader of the country you hope his brother dies soon.
Fanon @ 55:
McCain says:
“So Raul Castro gets an audience with an American president, and all the prestige such a meeting confers, without having to release political prisoners, allow free media, , and , or schedule internationally monitored free elections.”
Here is the response McCain should get from all of us and the media:
Here is your record of voting in relation to a country like Communist China:
“Pro-NAFTA, pro-GATT, pro-MFN, pro-Fast Track
McCain supports the following statements regarding free trade:
Supports NAFTA, including broadening NAFTA to include other countries in the western hemisphere.
Supports GATT and the WTO.
Opposes imposing tariffs on products imported from nations that maintain restrictive trade barriers on American products.
***A nation’s human rights record should not affect its “most favored nation” trading status with the US.***
Supports granting the President “fast-track” authority.
(Source: Project Vote Smart, 1998, http://www.vote-smart.org Jul 2, 1998)
Here’s the question: After China’s massacre of pro-democracy students in Tiananmen Square, considering that there is no freedom of speech or religion there, certainly no political free speech and no elections, WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARD BETWEEN CHINA AND CUBA?
It was, after all, McCain who referred to Leisure World as “Seizure World.” He once joked: “The nice thing about getting Alzheimer’s is you get to hide your own Easter eggs.”
I think the word sophomoric about covers it.
Let's see - we've had Dubya - the quintessential Prodigal Son
We've had his father - the quintessential preppie
And Ronnie - the Boraxo salesman
Must we even consider a Tailhook juvenile delinquent. Somehow I can picture St John chasing a bimbo down the hall of a Las Vegas hotel
Hey, he’s got to get revenge on brown people for the 5 years he was a POW.
If he's still calling them Gooks - he's going to have a problem with that Country.
Abbybwood @ 56:
Because China owns all of our debt
Guess that means I should drop my idea of starting a national Falun Gong club.
You're home, John...
McCain lies to the MSM like he lied to his tormenters at the Hanoi Hilton.
The trouble (for us) is, the MSM's far more lazy and much more gullible than his captors were.
Even more troubling, I don't think McCain is fully aware of how easy and often it is for the whoppers to come flying out of his pie hole.
Or maybe he is.
.
Trittydi @ 7:
My mother also. What goes around comes around. He is showing signs so I hope he becomes the butt of jokes too.
tyree @ 53:
Not to worry; McChimpy'sbidet has other ways to please his McMasturbatorinchief...
P.S. McDrools cums in at #299, thanks! ;-)
Hi tyree!
The republicans will have no problem winning the White House if Hillary isn't the nominee.
Don't you see or are you blind to the fact that all the Bush loving Corporate Media hacks are singing the praises of the Obama while verbally assaulting everything Hillary is or cares about.
If you don't see that they can't wait to have a race against Obama because they "KNOW" they will handily win against him in November. Well then their is no hope for you or the democratic Party. So sorry to see it go this way. The media is to savvy and without a clear understanding of how the corporations use the media to feed the ever easy consumers exactly how they want you to see things well you don't think for yourselves anymore. It is really weird that some "left or liberal" blogs who have paid advertising from corporations have become the worst offenders against Hillary.
It's over for McBoner and the media as many recent blog posts here have pointed out.
The entire (211) current (as of Friday 12:01am pst) McName List :-D
and
Friday’s C&Ler’s contributions to the McNames McList (current total 268) :-D
You's guys is awsum prolificatin' McNamifiers - Thankz! =(8<:}-)
Danny @ 24:
You care to point out exactly which state had a significant portion of voters identifying themselves as Republicans in exit polls?
I actually kinda like the Easter Eggs joke
But before anyone goes into coniptions or the vapours we've had elderly family members with Alzheimers and other forms of mental dementia.
People tell me my Easter jokes are blasphemous.
Over-heard from Golgotha, Jesus saying, "I dunno, but this doesn't seem like a particularly Good Friday to me."
But then I'm not a politician.
It's not lying if you can't remember. Ask him where those Easter eggs are.
Or should that be conniptions?
ysbaddaden @ 71:
That's for the pc-onniptious to deicide.
I wonder when "More Free ride: How the media is openly recruiting for Barak Obama and not asking the hard questions" is comming out
ysbaddaden @ 69:
Actually, those kind of jokes aren't really considered offensive by many people, and McCain's base will love them.
My grandma died of Alzheimer's, so no one needs to get all PC on me.
BTW - Why do they give Viagra to old men in resthomes? So they don't roll out of bed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etjpcF2X_mY
myiq2xu @ 74:
lol! thanks!
76 Proud2bHumble
A kickstand?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june08/sbdebate_02-22.html
The book looks interesting and I have ordered a copy.
On last nights "Newshour with Jim Lehrer," Mark Shields pointed out that McCain sometimes refers to the press as "my base."
ysbaddaden @ 77:
Ouch!! Please don't reference 'kick' and 'dick' in the same sentence/paragraph/comment/thread/blog...
8-D
At least Barak Obama has some company now on the Free Ride Express.
http://www.theonion.com/content/whitehousewar/johnmccain
Some more news on McCain...
ysbaddaden @ 71:
I think that would fit :>)
Geez,
Obama has gotten a free ride from the media too you know.
Booooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggggggg
Obama gets the prize for the biggest free ride by the press.....When are they going to investigate information such as this:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sVeFVtcdSYY
PssttCmere @ 85:
They won't so long as all the blogs ignore it.
mavericks aren't necessarily heroes and heroes aren't necessarily mavericks.some of that would go to mccains time in vietnam,most would go to his time in washington.
McCain and the media.
Who HASN'T wondered about that.
Perhaps Marcy Wheeler pegged it for ALL of us.
siri@legitgov.org
www.legitgov.org
I have grown up with a whole host of self-hating white people. People have no faith in people just like them to do the right thing. People who think stupid white men will always be racist sexist falocratic assholes and that is the way god made them. I am one of those assholes and I think all you assholes are pathetic self-defeating morons. those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Santiana can lick my butt and balls. The past does not guide the future. we do. Barak '08.
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