Comments on: Internal Memo: McCain Campaign Considered Kicking All New York Times Reporters Off Campaign Plane

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:48:09 +0000

Does anyone wonder why WaPo is going down the tubes? It is January 27th and they are covering a story from several months ago. I guess all have agreed that the media will not critique or criticism Obama. We have almost $1 trillion being voted on today, a bill the public hasn’t seen. We have Obama hiring lobbyists he promised he wouldn’t, we have a tax cheat Treasury Secretary, Union Bosses deciding which legislation goes through, A proposed Labor Secretary who will not answer questions, an attorney general candidate who “misrepresented” the truth in his hearings, and a White House Press Corp who is in therapy for their OCD to only write nice things about Obama.

The President of the US is obsessed with going after the 2 non-liberal media outlets in this country (FOX and RUSH), and this stupid website is “breaking” a story on McCain, a campaign plane in 2008, and a NY Times reporters. Egads, Grow up you lunatics. I look forward to the next round of layoffs at the WaPo/Obama Headquarters.

By: RH Potfry

RH Potfry — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:56:26 +0000

Leading journalistic institution in the country? What rock have you been under?

By: The World's Turned Upside Down

The World's Turned Upside Down — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:33:21 +0000

Guys,

Michael Isikoff writes for Newsweek … not the New York Times!

The NYT piece that implied a personal relationship between Vicki Iseman and McCain was written by Jim Rutenberg and a whole passel of the paper’s other reporters.

By: SGEW

SGEW — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:20:17 +0000

Oh, Michael Goldfarb. What a national treasure he is.

Other highlights from the interview:

“When you have The New Yorker write a story about how Sarah Palin was selected… well, that was like Jane Goodall going in and writing about ******* apes mating in the jungle—they don’t know what’s going on.”

“I’m not convinced that Palin, even with all her weaknesses, wasn’t the most plausible ticket you could have put forward this year.”

“I was a cudgel. I pissed off the media. They were furious about it. That was the effect the campaign was looking for.”

“I don’t have any regrets about the campaign.”

What a guy!

By: capt

capt — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:19:41 +0000

McCain and his camp ran a horrible campaign and the attacks on the media were just icing on the cake. It ended on the right note. McCain gave his best speech in years in concession. If he was as well spoken during the campaign it might have been close or even flipped.

By: Greg Sargent

Greg Sargent — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:55:36 +0000

ami, I think it was the lobbyist who’s suing…

By: AmiBlue

AmiBlue — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:41:01 +0000

Didn’t the Mccains sue the Times recently for the Isikoff articl, I believe?

By: gnarlytrombone

gnarlytrombone — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:23:20 +0000

The paper’s reporting on a McCain campaign ad that showed a dreamy-looking Obama as it said Obama wanted to teach “comprehensive *** education” to kindergartners — thus showing that Obama is “wrong for your family.”

I’d like to hear more about this one, Greg. What was the campaign’s beef here?

By: Greg Sargent

Greg Sargent — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:05:05 +0000

hey crust, I’m having trouble getting your other comments posted … apologies for that

By: Crust

Crust — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:08:19 +0000

Greg Sargent:

“[T]he campaign seemed at times to me like they never imagined the possibility that McCain would ever be covered aggressively.”

Exactly. McCain’s history from the 1999/2000 campaign on was as a darling of the press. They treated him as “Saint McCain” as Bob Somerby put it. They were his “base” as McCain himself put it. The media love was his titanium shield, what gave him a real chance of winning despite the utter wreckage of the Republican brand. Somehow, I guess, they deluded themselves into thinking that love was limitless, that it would persist no matter what they did.

A little trip down memory lane. Remember the McCain-love via Somerby:

“LEIBY (8/31/04): Sen. John McCain tended to his political base Sunday night: the entire national media. The maverick Arizona Republican, once (and future?) presidential aspirant and press secretary’s dream hosted a hyper-exclusive 68th birthday party for himself at La Goulue on Madison Avenue, leaving no media icon behind. Guests included NBC’s Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, ABC’s Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos, CBS’s Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, ABC News chief David Westin, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, CNN’s Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, CNBC’s Gloria Borger, PBS’s Charlie Rose—pause here to exhale—and U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham, New York Times columnists William Safire and David Brooks, author Michael Lewis and USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro. They and others dined on lobster salad, loin of lamb, assorted wines, creme brulee, lemon souffle and French tarts.

[...]

One guest, who asked not to be identified, described invitees as “the Journalistic Committee for a Government of National Unity.” After singing “Happy Birthday” to McCain, many of the guests—Russert, Borger and Shapiro, among others—cabbed to Elaine’s, where Zuckerman hosted a mob scene that included Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, PBS’s John McLaughlin and New York Gov. George Pataki, The Post’s Mark Leibovich reports. By 11 p.m. the Second Avenue landmark—with red carpet outside—was elbow-to-elbow with martini-sipping guests. Thus commenced Campaign 2008 (we think)”.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh031108.shtml

By: Greg Sargent

Greg Sargent — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:53:53 +0000

it is interesting how fast the press turned on him during the campaign…the campaign seemed at times to me like they never imagined the possibility that mccain would ever be covered aggressively.

By: CT Voter

CT Voter — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:51:15 +0000

Mmmmm, Goldfarb doesn’t sound very bright. The loving media attention to The Maverick is what sustained his campaign long past the expiration date. Pissing the media off, if he indeed did, hastened the distintegration. If that’s the effect the campaign was truly looking for, then McCain was remarkably inept in choosing who to run his campaign.

By: Crust

Crust — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:44:14 +0000

As you said (and said at the time) the Isikoff piece was problematic and that’s a legitimate point of criticism. But if the other two are the best they could come up with from the probably millions of words the Times spilled on the McCain campaign, then if anything the more logical conclusion would be that the Times was in the tank for McCain.
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From reading the interview, it looks like this stunt was part of a general strategy of playing hardball with the media. Goldfarb’s first words are:
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“[The McCain campaign] assured me that they were looking for someone to attack the press. And that struck me as a really bad idea, but when a presidential campaign calls up and offers you a job you take it.”
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His closing words:
“I was a cudgel. I pissed off the media. They were furious about it. That was the effect the campaign was looking for.”
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That strategy might play well with their base in the primary. But why the would adopt it in the general is beyond me. Taking on the folks who buy ink by the gallon is always a risky strategy. But for McCain, the media darling, to try it was inexplicable, squandering his greatest asset.