So the McCain campaign is starting to pushback against Cliff Schecter and his book The Real McCain. In response to the charges first brought at Huffington Post that he got into a physical altercation with Rep. Rick Renzi, McCain appeared on Fox (naturally) to say this:

Oh, okay, McCain, if you say it didn't happen...well, then, that's all the proof the media needs. But if you listen carefully, McCain never actually denies it...even with Renzi, he says there were witnesses and Renzi is a friend, but not that he never came to blows. The classic non-denial denial. But that didn't stop Jill Hazelbaker, a McCain spokesperson and professional internet concern troll, from calling Cliff's book "trash journalism" and that "The story is completely fabricated."

And then it hit me...for all their talk about balance and bringing on Republican strategists and talking heads when a liberal appears, there's no similar inclination when it's a Republican. The media will talk to McCain or his mouthpieces like Hazelbaker all by themselves with absolutely no balance from the other side of the aisle. In fact, I talked to Cliff today and asked him if he had been able to land any TV appearances to promote The Real McCain, maybe to refute Hazelbaker or some other Republican strategist who wants to minimize McCain's nasty temper and disrespect of others. Not one.

Isn't that amazing? A few months ago, Jonah Goldberg writes this vitriolic piece of tripe without a single fact or even a basic high school understanding of sociology and civics and he gets on all the major networks to pimp his fact-free (and really badly written) drivel, especially since he targeted liberals generally and Hillary Clinton specifically. That's good television, apparently. But Cliff, who is no stranger to TV, can't find a single outlet willing to take a look at a book that may not show McCain--the Republican candidate for the highest office in the land-- in a less than glowing light. God forbid the voters hear about McCain's negatives when the media is busy talking about Hillary's lies and Obama's ties to controversial figures. They'll put on McCain to refute a book that they won't talk about, but not bring on the actual author of the book. That's what I call teflon, baby.

If you are of the mind to, in addition to supporting one of our progressive voices by purchasing his book, consider please using the "Spotlight" function at the bottom this post to contact members of the media and ask them to get Cliff's book in the spotlight and stop giving McCain a pass.

And for your enjoyment, Max and the Marginalized has come up with a new song using some of the revelations that Cliff has in his book: John McCain is a Hotheaded Coot Who is Unfit to Lead, and We Wrote a Song About It. The lyrics are great:

It's so funny everyone forgot to laugh
At your temper even shorter than the shelf life of a gaffe
From your lips to no one's ears, somehow disappears into the past
If it came from my side no one would ignore
That stupid joke about Barbara Ann, or when you called that wife of yours--
a country needs a whole lot better
than the mixed up words and letters, evermore

Bot the nonsense only echoes for about three seconds long
They've got their fingers in their ears, they can't point out where you're wrong

Teflon John, is this thing on?
All the microphones are broken
And the lines that you've misspoken
Are met with nothing but a token nod-along
They just move on, so move along

I never ever would've guessed
That when you ride for half the price on the old Straight Talk Express
You get the Denny's senior special
And it comes with a free pass from the press

So let's not put no huffy hotheads where they really don't belong
I'd so much rather see you feeding ducks down at the pond