MEDIA

McCain’s ‘Free Ride’

A critic on the senator's cozy ties to the press corps.

By Matthew Philips | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Feb 22, 2008 | Updated: 4:06  p.m. ET Feb 22, 2008

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  • Posted By: yael @ 02/23/2008 10:44:54 PM

    The only free ride given by the media this time around is spelled O-b-a-m-a.

  • Posted By: joeboy101 @ 03/10/2008 12:26:19 PM

    So the media has been far too easy on McCain, except for that whole his cozying up and implied adultery with lobbyists, stories on McCain's health and melanoma, and attributions to crazed radio talk show hosts, its just been on big free ride. Okay, gotcha. Just wanted to clear that up.

  • Posted By: jtcollier @ 03/04/2008 4:56:18 PM

    Paul Waldman, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a left-leaning........................................ENOUGH SAID!

  • Posted By: GregHere @ 03/03/2008 6:21:47 PM

    McCain....Lets put one of the big issues about John McCain on the table to discuss..........his age!! He will be 72 years plus 5 months if he winds up in the Oval Office in January of 2009. This is too old to assume the Presidency of the United States. McCain already does not appear to have a sharp mind and he is very likely to spend many days of his term on "The Sick List". Who will be helping to run the Country? Will it be the newly appointed Republican Vice President who will be elected to tag along with McCain if they elected or will it be a cabal of his inner staff members or will his wife Cindy be giving input to McCain as well as acting as a semi-nurse/caretaker for him. These are serious points to think about and someone should be thinking also of placing an age, perhaps 65 years old for a President taking office in a new term. Surely there are plenty of men or women available who are younger, more vigorous and ready to take office and work hard.

  • Posted By: stranglerlewis9 @ 02/28/2008 7:28:14 PM

    Just out of curiosity, is John McCain eligible to run for president, to begin with? The guy was born on the Panama Canal Zone in 1936. According to the Constitution, a candidate must have been born within the confines of the United States. He musn't have been born OUTSIDE the U.S.. I can point to a few candidates who ran for office but never made it to the top job: George Romney, Mitt's father ran for president in '68, even though he was born in Mexico; Barry Goldwater, who ran for president in '64, was born in Arizona when Arizona was still a territory. Seriously, don't you think the Constitution needs to be revised since it's so outdated and a lot has changed since 1787?

    • Posted By: IrritatedAmerican @ 03/02/2008 10:59:15 PM

      McCain was born to two American Parents...His father, a military man -- was stationed in Panama so technically McCain was born legally to become President. My daughter was born in Cananda...to two American parents so she is legally an American who can run for President in 30 years. Children born to U.S. Servicemen and women abroad aren't considered born on foreign soil. Obviously the fact that Goldwater was born before the state became a state is a silly argument as the territory was acquired by the U.S. and Goldwater was native to the state.

  • Posted By: anothertompaine @ 02/29/2008 4:47:45 PM

    This is one of weakest criticisms that could be leveled at McCain. The reason the press loves McCain is that he gives them total access and answers any question at anytime. He does this without advisors or consultants to help him consider the political ramifications of an answer.

    So it Mr. Waldman's critique boils down to this: We shouldn't trust McCain to be honest and open because he's so honest and open.

    I'm generally not a fan of the press, but I do have to acknowledge that they are our eyes and ears in this situation. McCain gives total access to the press, and by extension to us. Hillary and Obama restrict the press and won't answer questions off the cuff, yet we should assume that they're the ones that we can trust more? That must be Leap Day logic.

    • Posted By: mojoe @ 03/02/2008 5:00:35 AM

      anothertompayne writes that 'The reason the press loves McCain is that he gives them total access and answers any question at any time'.
      Not true.
      The reason the press LOVED McCain was because he is a Republican who was against a lot of
      President Bush's policies. The Democratic Party--controlled MSM hates George W. Bush and has done everything they can to defeat him and his party for 7 years and is now doing their best to elect Democrats in November. They LOVED Republican McCain ONLY because he was helping their political agenda at the time. Now however when McCain is running on his own against a politically correct Democrat they'll do what they always do to ANY Republican who dares to go up against their political party nominee--destroy him, assassinate his character and reputation and brainwash their readers into believing McCain is the devil--incarnate. mojoe

  • Posted By: ayoss58 @ 02/24/2008 3:23:32 AM

    Let the truth be told for once in the media!!!.Despite, the brilliant & well-documented piece by New Tork Times; due to MaCain's friends in the media like Oreilly,the beltwayboys,Chris,hannity and rest of conservative talk-show gangs and uncritical readers Macain is not only getting a free-ride but, also cashing on the story in soliciting contributions from blind supporters who have been exploited in the first place by MaCain.However, knowing who MaCain really is,the Arizona press calls him warts!!!
    Yes, the voters are being duped by MaCain's friends in the media like did in 2000 when they presented Bush as the honorable & straight-talking guy over Al-Gore!!!.
    The facts as of now.MaCain is now proven to have lied and contradicted himself when his dispositions surfaced yesterday.His denials of the charges brought against him by New York Times were contradicted by his own words in the dispositions!!!.
    MaCain,is know known,have made millions from corporate lobbyists when chair of the commerce committee.In his role in the Keating Five Scandal, he along his friends and wife were responsible for $3.4 billions losses in the loan & savings scam.Despite the fact that Keating,the scumbug was closely connected to MaCain and his wife,the court gave him not a prison sentence but a reprimand.Well, the well-connected always get away even with murder is it surprising MaCain got away???.
    But, this an election year,the voters are the last judge.MaCain the honorable & straight -talking man is now just an empty myth of yesterday!!!.He is done and finished!!!.

    • Posted By: mitch09 @ 02/28/2008 3:14:18 PM

      Between spelling McCain's name wrong, the horrible spelling, grammar and punctuation, I have no idea what your point was.

      The point is none of these candidates is without faults. And yes, that goes for your precious Obama too. I know that he is almost godlike in your eyes, but he has faults too, and they're just beginning to come out.

  • Posted By: mojoe @ 02/26/2008 3:30:36 PM

    Notice that the Democratic Party--controlled MSM, including the New York Times, hasn't made a peep nor has questioned Barack Obama to elaborate on his speech a week or two ago were he said (re. Al Qaeda camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan) "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharref won't act, we will.... There must be no safe-haven for terrorists who threaten America. We cannot fail to act because action is hard"
    It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that what Obama was saying is that if he were to become president, he would bomb and invade Pakistan. Aren't these the same folks that are blaming President George W. Bush for the war going on in Afghanistan and Iraq BECAUSE HE INVADED AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ? So why is Barak Obama's Pakistan invasion plan of no interest to the MSM, unless they're protecting him against any political fallout? mojoe

    • Posted By: chriss1 @ 02/28/2008 12:44:43 PM

      "Aren't these the same folks that are blaming President George W. Bush for the war going on in Afghanistan and Iraq BECAUSE HE INVADED AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ? So why is Barak Obama's Pakistan invasion plan of no interest to the MSM, unless they're protecting him against any political fallout? mojoe"

      Obama is talking about actual and real intelligence - not the made up stuff to support going into Iraq. No one is saying Afganistan was a mistake - the Bushies didn't want to bother with Afganistan but were shamed into going there to go after Bin Laden.

  • Posted By: mojoe @ 02/26/2008 3:41:53 AM

    The only thing the New York Times proved with their phony Mc Cain story they tried to frame him with, is that the New York Times, like most of the rest of the Main Stream Media, is in the hip pocket of the Democratic Party. They're in fact the Democrats propaganda arm. mojoe

  • Posted By: cerebral_but_dull @ 02/25/2008 6:15:09 PM

    It's McCain and it's over, and I don't know how qualified Huckabee would have been anyway. But he is certainly the most pleasant contender we've had in decades so I was very happy to see him in the race.

  • Posted By: Russty @ 02/25/2008 12:54:26 PM

    No mention of Huckabee by this Left Leaners, sounds like to me they like McCain as the GOP nominee. 'Nuff said. if you are not a left-leaning loony - vote Huckebee

  • Posted By: AlteredEgo @ 02/25/2008 11:46:42 AM

    See this important story on McCain and Clinton campaigns in cahoots:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/24/14518/2213/544/463202

  • Posted By: AlteredEgo @ 02/25/2008 11:46:04 AM

    See this important story on McCain and Clinton campaigns in cahoots:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/24/14518/2213/544/463202

  • Posted By: AlteredEgo @ 02/25/2008 11:45:33 AM

    See this important story on McCain and Clinton campaigns in cahoots:
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/24/14518/2213/544/463202

  • Posted By: rm2008 @ 02/25/2008 10:12:32 AM

    I think McCain have a free ride , and I think tshe NY Times is playing a part in this. Why did they hold their story so long. I think its because they didn't want to hurt him or give the others, a fair chance. The only reason they wroteit at all, because they had to, this way whenever the real story, nobody could say, they held the story. Look how they wrote the story, sex first and they the true facts, he using his position to help his girlfriend, McCain is 71, now(his age now and sex, don't move the public now, but Don't forget about the first Mrs. Mc Cain that he was married to why playing with the now (2nd) Mrs. McCain. Why do she think, he wan't have another woman, when she was once the other woman.

  • Posted By: lb078 @ 02/25/2008 8:13:51 AM

    click on the links to the candidates here or at msnbc. mccain and clinton get slammed in almost every article. obama never gets touched. maybe it's not pc, or maybe noone wants to be the first to tarnish the new fad in the US.

  • Posted By: turkeyfish @ 02/25/2008 4:02:24 AM

    McCain learned that preening reporters was his ticket to getting away with his involvement helping to create the savings and loan swindle that bilked many out of their life savings and left the government on the hook for the bill. As chair of the telecommunications committee he only continues a well worn track record of doing the bidding of lobbyists, while proclaiming himself a champion against the special interests. Does it really come as any surprise that he now is willing to break the very law he wrote that tries to restrict the use of lobbyists money in campaigns to fund his own?

    Of course, sensationalists will print anything for a buck. Thats why the seedier sexual angle of the story received so much attention, particularly given recent high profile republican foibles in this aspect of public life. His bigger problem now is that the tabloid forensics teams have been scurring over that cororate jet he and his lobbyist friend were riding and the word is out that there is some very heavy bidding going on for the exclusvie on the results. Its too bad for him that Jurrasic Park stimulated such research interest in the collection and analysis of old DNA.

  • Posted By: turkeyfish @ 02/25/2008 3:55:54 AM

    He learned that preening reporters was essential to getting away with helping to create the savings and loan disaster in the 1970's. But lets get real, most "reporters" these days write what they are paid to write. Of course, the sensationalists will pay to print anything that sells. We should see some high bidding for the story surrounding the DNA stains on that corporate jet he and his lobbyist were flying around on now that the the tabloid forensics teams have done their work and are now soliciting bids.

  • Posted By: mojoe @ 02/24/2008 10:58:33 PM

    Mc Cain getting a free ride by the MSM??? Yeah, and pigs fly!
    Obama's getting the free ride.
    I'm still waiting for the MSM to report and have Obama elaborate on the speech he gave were he told his audience that if he became president, he would bomb and invade Pakistan. Mc Cain could never have gotten away with that.

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