TPM Presents: McCain & The Pundits

[ErinBerin84]

TPM examines the phenom of media whores and McCain, and divides them into "Off the Swing for Good" (have pretty much come to terms with the fact that McCain sucks); Yearning for the Tire Swing (pundits who maybe have expressed disappointment over McCain, but blame it more on his advisors than John McCain himself. They really do want to believe the best in Mccain); and Tire Swing So much fun, it feels Amazing (will find any excuse not to blame McCain's failings on McCain). I did not include all of the pundits/quotes that TPM included, but this is a good sample...I think some of their dates may be off though.


http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/tire_swinging_the_alternative.php

TPM Presents: McCain & The Pundits

Lila Shapiro

Last March, the McCains threw an afternoon barbecue at their Sedona estate for the DC Press Corps. Forty-five reporters were there. As Dana Bash put it: "He had a gas grill going and he was barbecuing baby back ribs. And he was sharing with everybody his recipe for the best, from his perspective, the best baby back ribs. And actually, we'll pull it on our Web site if anybody is going to want that." Or, in Meghan McCain's words, "The guys from The Politico brought her flowers." See Meghan's blogette video of the event here. Now, if you take a look at that video, you'll note at second 37 one Holly Bailey, Newsweek's White House Correspondent, champagne glass in hand, taking a swirl on the McCain family tire swing.

Meghan McCain: "It was a really fun experience.... Everybody really relaxed. It was fun to kind of see big journalistic figures, like Holly Baily swinging on the tire swing and Jon Martin helping my dad grill ribs."

That does sound fun. It also sounds a little weird. As reader TP noted, in August, "I knew things were different in DC but this is like finding out your sister in the big city who seems to date a lot is actually a streetwalker. In response I hereby coin the term "Swinging on the Tire" to describe a reporter who has gotten way too cozy with a politician and has had their supposed objectivity affected." Hence, our use of the term throughout this campaign season.

Now, one of the most interesting parts of this surreal campaign season has been watching those reporters who sipped and swung-- really McCain's base in many ways-- leave the cozy rubber embrace. Like the hippies who cut their dreadlocks and went corporate, there's plenty of bitterness, regret and a tinge of self-doubt crystallized into hard anger. But never underestimate the longing for the tire swing, and how good it felt. And the easy, feel good explanation that it's not McCain himself, but something else-- his managers, his VP, the press, the unfairness of life-- that's turned his campaign into a disgrace. We bring you the array of those who swung-- who's off for good, who flirts with the dismount, and who's loving the swing harder then ever.

We'll be updating as we inch closer to the big day. Enjoy.


Off the Swing For Good

Joe Klein July 22

Time

"The reality is that McCain should be proud that he helped salvage a disastrous situation by pushing the counterinsurgency plan. It's something to run on. But, at this point, McCain must sense that it's not a winning hand. Obama, the poker player, has drawn to an inside straight: the Iraqis favor his plan over McCain's long-term bases. That must be galling. But it's no excuse to pop off the way McCain did. It was, shockingly, unpresidential."



Richard Cohen Sept 17
Washington Post


Betrayed Lover Counter-Tire-Swingism
"And so McCain lied about his lying and maybe thinks that if he wins the election, he can -- as he did in South Carolina -- renounce who he was and what he did and resume his old persona. It won't work. Karl Marx got one thing right -- what he said about history repeating itself. Once is tragedy, a second time is farce. John McCain is both."


George Will Sep 23
Washington Post


Et Tu, George?
"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?


Yearning for the Tire Swing



Ana Marie Cox Aug 29
Time

That Last Shred Of Respect
"When I got on the plane the other day, McCain said hi to me. . . .when he had that conflict with that crowd in Minneapolis, or Lakeview, that really energized him. Going on offense against his own voters and supporters in this weird way made him more energetic. . . .Some of the happiest times I had with John McCain are when everyone counted him out."


Ruth Marcus Sept 17th
Washington Post


Trying To Even The Scales
"In the 2008 race, and especially in the past few weeks, the imbalance has become unnervingly stark. Ideological differences aside, John McCain's campaign has been more dishonest, more unfair, more -- to use a word that resonates with McCain -- dishonorable than Barack Obama's."

Josh on Ruth:

"Is Ruth Marcus really so desperate to 'even the scales' that she's claiming that the phrase "privatizing Social Security" is "incendiary" language that amounts to deception?"


David Brooks Oct 16th
NYT

"This was not evident back in the "fierce urgency of now" days, but it is now. And it is easy to sketch out a scenario in which he could be a great president. He would be untroubled by self-destructive demons or indiscipline. With that cool manner, he would see reality unfiltered. He could gather -- already has gathered -- some of the smartest minds in public policy, and, untroubled by intellectual insecurity, he could give them free rein. Though he is young, it is easy to imagine him at the cabinet table, leading a subtle discussion of some long-term problem."

And Then Later...

"McCain has not made that sort of all-encompassing argument, so his proposals don't add up to more than the sum of their parts,"

Still later: "When I think of him at his happy times, he's leaning back he's joking around... And the guy you see in this debate... That's not the guy. Check out the video below, and hear how his voice cracks when he says guy.



Tire Swing Just Sooo much fun , it feels Amaazzing....



Andrea Mitchell Aug 4th
MSNBC


"I have a, maybe a counter-intuitive view, that John McCain also doesn't like this kind of politics, went along with his tougher political advisers... I think hes inside a bubble and is not aware... I think he's been jinned up a little bit." Roger Simon and Mike Barnicle concur.


Tom Brokaw Aug 27th
MSNBC

"Well look for Bill Clinton, and for anyone in the Democratic party for that matter, its a very tricky case taking on John McCain and trying to rough him up. When John McCain was sitting in a prison in Hanoi, Bill Clinton was writing letters to his ROTC commander and trying to get out of the draft, which he did successfully."


Roger Simon Oct 14th
Politico

"John McCain's campaign is pretty much a shambles right now.

If you don't believe me, just listen to John McCain. His chief goal these days is calming down his crowds, not firing them up.

And that is an honorable thing to do. It may not be a winning thing to do. But it is honorable."