McCain hosts a BBQ for his biggest fans

March 3, 2008

I can appreciate presidential candidates trying to establish a friendly rapport with political reporters, but this kind of charm offensive, for those who apparently have already been charmed, seems a little excessive.

Instead of appealing for votes on the campaign trail, Sen. John McCain spent the weekend playing host at his rustic Arizona home — and on Sunday members of the traveling press corps were his guests.

It was a news-free zone, and a charm offensive to be sure — but also a window into the private setting and self-described oasis of the man who may be days away from mathematically clinching the GOP nomination, months after being left for political dead.

Shortly after the NYT’s Iseman story broke, McCain seemed to want, for the first time in years, to keep reporters at arm’s length. All of a sudden, the once available candidate decided he was mad at the press corps, and their free-wheeling access had been surprisingly curtailed. Even on the campaign airplane, “reporters were asked to sit farther back than usual.”

But that was 10 days ago. Now, apparently, McCain wants to get along with his base again, and his barbecue did the trick.

* “There is something surprising — perhaps even metaphysically provocative — about the notion of Mr. Straight Talk in such close proximity to what may be the nation’s highest proportion of crystal-wielding psychics.”

* “McCain comes across as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy, not terribly given to brooding or introspective meditation.”

* “As grillmaster, he looked like the all-American dad, with a story for every spot in the house.”

I have a sinking suspicion these guys were charmed before McCain fed them free food.

Digby added that the Washington Post ran not one but two items on the get-together at McCain’s house.

It’s going to be a long campaign. The Washington Post is so in love with St John of Sedona that it features two different stories in the paper today about a bar-b-que he gave for the boyz on the bus at his “cabin” this week-end. Feel the love. […]

But that one dispatch didn’t capture the full flyboy wonderfulness quite thoroughly enough. Another reporter filed essentially the same story but added some local color contrasting Sedona’s ridiculous, New Age, hippies (a cult perhaps?) with the straight talking, regular guy McCain. […]

Personally, I can’t read enough about what an authentic all American fella John McCain is and I expect the papers will be dedicating at least three or four stories a day to exploring the full spectrum of McCain awesomeness. This is just the beginning.

The Clinton campaign has spent the last couple of weeks insisting that the media hasn’t been hard enough on Barack Obama. My hunch is the Clinton team may have matched the right problem with the wrong beneficiary.

not terribly given to brooding or introspective meditation.

Because we want ANOTHER president that lacks these learning features.

  • Isn’t this something akin to going on junkets paid for by lobbyists. I would imagine that journalism ethics would question the extent to which reports personal relationships should exist.

    But hey, he does sound like a regular guy — the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with. Oh, wait! Wasn’t that the standard for choosing a president once before?

  • The moron we have now has long cured me of any desire to elect “the guy you want to have a beer with”. I don’t think the country can take four more years of “a straight talking regular guy”.

    Been there, done that, have the T shirt, the lost wars, the military with the thousand yard stare, the failured protection from terrorists, the violation of US law and Constitution, the horrible failed economy, the coddled ultra-rich, you name it…

  • As anyone from Kansas City will tell you, if you get a slab of ribs done in an hour and a half, you’re a rank amateur who cooked them too fast. It should take at least three hours to do them correctly.

    Just sayin’ …

  • And all the political/ corporate media/ repiglican reporters were lined up with their pants down, bent over, asscheeks spread wide open, screaming ‘fuck me’ , ‘fuck me’ .. ‘me first, fuck me’ … like little children who father just got home with a bag of candy ……. and at the head of this line was none other than Tim Russert who was involved in a fistfight with Chris Matthews to see who could get fucked first

  • All these years I never realized that the guys standing at intersections with cardboard signs saying “Will work for food” are actually reporters on the McCain campaign. What cheap whores they are if they were willing to be bought-off by something as silly as steaks off the grill. I’d have held out for at least a Rolex.

    The reports from some time back that Hillary was greeted with icy stares when she brought breakfast to reporters covering her must not have been because the reporters feel any animosity towards her — it simply takes some nice, hot barbecue to get these guys to come out of their shell.

  • Libby Copeland is the dope from the WaPo who waxed ecstatic about McCain’s ranch being the western White House. I guess Libby doesn’t know the McCains bought property in San Diego three years ago and last year, Cindy told San Diego magazine that she wants a western White House in San Diego:

    TB: Well, you may only have another year and a half of that. When the election’s over, do you think you might consider a Western White House in Coronado?

    CM: Absolutely. I love Coronado. Listen, to me there’s nothing better than waking up and seeing the sun come up over the water on the bay there. And watching the Navy SEALs run up and down the beach. And walking along the beach and then watching the sun set over Point Loma. That’s a great way to live.

  • * “There is something surprising — perhaps even metaphysically provocative — about the notion of Mr. Straight Talk in such close proximity to what may be the nation’s highest proportion of crystal-wielding psychics.”

    When I read this i thought the “crystal-weilding psychics” was referring to the reporters.

    I strongly support freedom of the press, but it might be time for some laws regulating the presidential level of press coverage. Perhaps a mandatory swapping out of journalists on the press coverage of the President and candidates. Maybe taking the selection of which reporters attend press conferences out of the president and candidates hands. Maybe putting putting politicians under some kind of penalty of law for lying to the press.

    I’d like to see a slate of claims and promises that candidates are willing to ratify and make them legally binding. They could each choose which promises they wanted to put on that list.

    Ohwell the Republicans would abuse the laws anyway. Too slippery a slope I guess.

  • McCain’s still doing essentially what he did before he ran for Senate, when he was the Navy’s liason to that body. By all reports he turned his office into a drop-in bar for legislators and lobbyists to schmooze and otherwise waste our money. That was while he began his affair with the daughter of a wealthy beer distributor, an affair which eventually led him to divorce his crippled wife after fifteen years. Sounds just like the kind of guy you’d like to be friends with, huh?

  • Do you think there will ever be any media hand-wringing over the positive treatment of McCain?

    We’ll never, ever hear a journalist talk about how they need to “make up” for their positive treatment of McCain.

  • It’d be a lot cheaper to forgo all this presidential campaigning and just have a cook-off.

  • #13. Well, then it’s settled! Any white girls missing? Any celebrity trials to gossip about?

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