Saturday, February 23, 2008
McCain’s media love (12:42 pm)
I think Ezra Klein is wildly off-base in his assessment of why the media adores John McCain.
What very few (male) reporters feel comfortable with is their personal physical courage. Their ability to fare well in a bar fight, or make a credible threat to someone stalking their wife, or endure five years of torture in a Vietnamese prison camp. McCain has something that they don’t understand, and that they want. And it’s one reason they like him. Because not only does he possess those qualities, but he also appears to like them. And that validation from a tough guy is reassuring.That seems like highly-generalized, unsupported psycho-analysis to me. Another reason, which Jason Zengerle pointed out last month, seems a lot more sensical.
The simple explanation is: McCain affords the press access like no other candidate. In the McCain campaign, there’s no barrier between candidate and reporter. If you have a question for McCain, you don’t have to bother going to his press secretary; you simply go ask him.Even in my very short career, I know how annoying it is to work through press flaks. Easy access is incredibly valuable, especially for reporters working on tight deadlines, and probably, reason enough to cut a guy some slack here and there.
posted by Adam Doster
Reader Comments
Haddius:
What liberal press? They give McCain a free pass. That doesn’t sound like a liberal pass to me. They gave George Bush a pass for most of his time in office. It’s all a figment of Rush’s imagination.
posted by Joe Klein's conscience on 2-25-08 at 5:26 PM
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He was also the moderate foil to conservative christian George W Bush back in 2000, thats when the press started liking McCain and pushing his campaign. He still pokes conservatives in the eye from time to time, thats why the liberal press likes him.
Youre right, it has nothing whatsoever to do with him being a tough guy. The liberal press hates macho tough guys. If he was a down the line, strict conservative theyd hate him, they never have fell in love in the first place.
posted by Haddius on 2-25-08 at 4:53 PM