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John McCain’s P.R. Mistake

Posted by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief in Media, Politics.
Sep 16th, 2008 | Comments

Someone in McCain camp might take Senator John McCain aside for a little chat — or perhaps meditation. In a week when the mainstream news media is starting to pile on McCain for a growing credibility gap and when Wall Street’s national financial catastrophe has overshadowing the Sarah Palin issue(s) McCain is showing signs of being a candidate who in danger of shooting himself in the foot — with his mouth.

When a politician goes after a newsperson or anchor who asks a journalistic question so basic that a student from a journalism school could have it as part of an assignment in interviewing a politician, it means several things:

(1) The politician is feeling the heat and trying to deflect a question that is not helpful to his campaign as he tries to discredit the reporter. (2) The politician is tired and testy…something that will not help McCain if he is seen as brittle in public at a time when he is under fire for ads that are less-than-truthful. (3) He either has handlers who are not doing their work or they’re underestimating how actively going after reporters can stiffen the resolve of news and morning show editors editors, reporters to ensure that the candidate will be asked the tough questions that are “out there”).

Watch John McCain go after MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinksi after she asks a basic question that McCain and his advisers should have anticipated so he could rattle off a response and just let it go. Note the response from others on the show. McCain supporters who think the media is all evil — and not all McCain supporters do — will cheer this, but the lingering image to those not actively working for the McCain campaign is of a fake-ly smiling McCain unable to control his emotions and trying to discredit a reporter as an “Obama supporter” because she dared to ask a hard question. A testy versus tough guy.

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thepurpleocean

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Please spread the word about this Palin info to anyone who might want to know more.

RevDave

"in danger of shooting himself in the foot — with his mouth" - in danger?? The guy has been outright LYING for weeks now, the only danger is if the media starts (and now continues) to call him out on it.

We've had 8 years of being outright lied to - we cannot handle another four.

Ricorun

I suspect McCain may have a problem. Over the summer he successfully painted Obama as an insubstantial celebrity. Now he's getting painted as a liar. And I think the single most damaging issue in that regard is the one featured in this clip -- his comments on the economy. You simply can't say "the economy is fundamentally strong" (a direct quote from Herbert Hoover, by the way) when millions of people are losing their homes, their jobs, and/or their 401Ks are going down the toilet. He has an increasingly severe credibility problem, and it is affecting his perceived honor and integrity.

jwest

If McCain keeps making gaffes like this, he may end up losing New York.

He should take a tip from Obama and refuse to say anything to anybody without the help of a teleprompter.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/15...

AustinRoth

This will also feed the meme that he is short-tempered and reactive, and doesn't have the temperament to be President (although we have had a number of notoriously short-tempered Presidents, including Johnson, Clinton and others).

This is not his finest moment, and not fatal by itself, but a continued pattern of such replies will be damaging.

lurxst

If only Obama had agreed to do those townhalls. McCain wouldn't have had to lie so much and revert to "mean old man" mode.

"You kids get off of my campaign lawn!"

ChrisWWW

I guess constantly lying in your speeches, campaign ads, and press releases has it's effect on those covering you. What a surprise!

Not only that, but it puts McCain's supporters in a position of either destroying their own credibility to maintain the party line or telling it like it is... witness Mitt Romney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY5Plqs5d98

Marlowecan

Well, it's not like she "dared to ask a hard question" as this was really a pretty easy question. In fact, there was no reason for him to go off the handle, at all. Thus, setting aside the possibility of senility, I believe this was not a "PR mistake" but actually calculated and deliberate.

Her father is an advisor and supporter of Obama, and MSNBC is widely regarded as the left counterpart to Fox. I would argue this was a planned hit. . . a 2008 version of the famous encounter between Bush Sr. and Dan Rather in 1988.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQbmFY3H_A

Of course, Bush Sr. was elected President after this exchange.

Folks here might be right. This may be just a case of "Angry Granpa Simpson Shouting at Clouds".

But it never hurts a GOP candidate to attack the media.

Whether this escalation will work - as it did in 1988 - is another matter.

pacatrue

jwest, you do realize that the article you linked to also said he never uses teleprompters at standard campaign rallies and town hall events. Add in debates and interviews and he's off the teleprompter a heck of a lot. It's a great meme to hint that Obama can't say anything substantive without a speech written out in front of him, but it's clearly false. All that it shows in reality is that Obama likes to have support when he gives bigger speeches, and that's about it. He talks about issues all the time all by his lonesome. So now that you've seen evidence that the meme is false, you will stop propogating it, right? Right.

jwest

pacatrue,

Judging from the Saddleback experience, Obama is incapable of speaking coherently without his handlers printing out the words they want him to speak.

He has had a stump speech memorized, but now that it requires modification, Obama will need to set up a teleprompter at every street corner he speaks at.

You should have vetted this guy.

pacatrue

So, you are going to ignore reality and continue propagating the meme. Excellent. Well, every party depends on having you guys around.

ChrisWWW

What? Jwest spewing propaganda? Never!

And for the record, Obama did fine at the Saddleback Forum, and he did fine during the primary debates. Obviously he is stronger when delivering prepared remarks, but most people are.

Ricorun

Speaking of unprepared remarks, ow. I mean really... OW! Apparently Carly has been drinking too much koolade. I wonder if she is going to be banished to the Gramm nether-land... such as it is.

pacatrue

Wow, Fiorina! Honesty from a spin master. I might start listening more since you are offering actual opinions now. The thing is her comment isn't necessarily a knock of Palin or McCain. It's not a knock of Bill Gates to say he'd be a lousy doctor; or a knock of Warren Buffett to say he'd be a lousy football player. The question is: are the skills needed to be a good Prez the same as the skills needed to be a CEO?

dexx

It's hard to imagine Mr. McCain honestly wanting to go head-to-head with Obama. McCain struggles, sometimes mightily, to get his point across, particularly on economic issues. Having to debate issues in real time, as opposed to in press conferences or even the two televised 'discussions' he and Obama have had in common, is going to spotlight his inability to think on his feet.

Ricorun

dexx: It's hard to imagine Mr. McCain honestly wanting to go head-to-head with Obama. McCain struggles, sometimes mightily, to get his point across, particularly on economic issues. Having to debate issues in real time, as opposed to in press conferences or even the two televised 'discussions' he and Obama have had in common, is going to spotlight his inability to think on his feet.

I wouldn't put it quite like that, but I do think that at this point McCain would have a very, very hard time returning to anything close to the truth. Considering that, maybe it is time for Obama to call his bluff on the town hall meeting idea.

BTW, on a right wing blog I came across a link of the Fiorina comment in fuller context. The wingnuts claim it absolves her. My opinion is that it does even more to nail her coffin closed.

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