Following up on John's item from the weekend, NBC’s Chuck Todd conceded that the media gives John McCain a pass on his errors of fact and judgment, because he has credibility "in the bank."

In response, Kevin Drum has a clip-and-save post on the problem.

Let's recap. Foreign policy cred lets him get away with wild howlers on foreign policy. Fiscal integrity cred lets him get away with outlandishly irresponsible economic plans. Anti-lobbyist cred lets him get away with pandering to lobbyists. Campaign finance reform cred lets him get away with gaming the campaign finance system. Straight talking cred lets him get away with brutally slandering Mitt Romney in the closing days of the Republican primary. Maverick uprightness cred allows him to get away with begging for endorsements from extremist religious leaders like John Hagee. "Man of conviction" cred allows him to get away with transparent flip-flopping so egregious it would make any other politician a laughingstock. Anti-torture cred allows him to get away with supporting torture as long as only the CIA does it.

Remind me again: where does all this cred come from? And what window do Democrats go to to get the same treatment the press gives McCain?

Those really aren't rhetorical questions. If campaign reporters, news editors, and broadcast producers could answer them -- before they help McCain win the election -- I'm sure we'd all appreciate it.