December 4, 2007
He Could Blog Here
Jon Martin has been traveling with the McCain campaign and he offers a theory on why reporters that cover McCain like him so much. He not only recognizes the "absurdities of What it Takes to run for president," as Martin puts it, but also "comes out and voices them." He offers several examples, including this classic about the way campaigns react to new polls:
Asked about the horse race, McCain boiled down into two lines what everybody who covers the business knows [that] politicians and campaigns do.
"When you see a bad poll, you say 'that’s a lousy poll, don’t pay any attention to that.,'" McCain joked.
But with more favorable numbers, it's: "Wow, look at that. this is huge!"
By Mark Blumenthal on December 4, 2007 7:02 PM | Permalink
Just read Martin's article. Oy vey. What is it about McCain that turns certain journos into quivering fanboys?
So McCain is considered genuine because he "knows he is playing a role". That's downright perverse, that is - if you tell me you're just acting, what you say must be honest. If you tell me you're being honest, you must be acting.
I suspect the same journo would call a different candidate disingenuous or calculating for recycling lines from a previous campaign only because they used to get a good response from the press. Then again, not all candidates have such a cool van.
So it goes.
Posted on December 4, 2007 10:31 PM