One has to assume that it’s tough being a campaign reporter for a major news outlet, especially for a wire service like the Associated Press. The hours are ridiculous, the travel is constant, the deadlines are tight, and not incidentally, they have to listen to presidential candidates repeat quite a bit of nonsense on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
Once in a great while, not surprisingly, a reporter just can’t take it anymore<\/a>.<\/p>\n Holding a news conference in front of the pen rack of a Columbia Staples store, Romney wanted to tout his “strategy for a stronger economy.” <\/p>\n Answering what reporters later called a routine question, Romney took a veiled shot at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has jumped to a lead in Palmetto State polls. <\/p>\n “I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign,” Romney said. “I don’t have lobbyists that are tied to my–” <\/p>\n Glen Johnson, an Associated Press reporter who was sitting on the floor as he typed on his laptop computer, interrupted to point out that Ron Kaufman, one of Romney’s top advisers, is a lobbyist. “That’s not true, governor!” Johnson interjected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As Keith Olbermann explained<\/a>, “It’s rare for a presidential candidate to be interrupted and criticized to his face; rarer still to have it come from a member of the mainstream media; and rarest of all, to see that candidate resume the battle while cameras roll.” And yet, that’s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n Lest there be any confusion, Glen Johnson is not just some schmoe<\/a> — he’s “a highly respected AP reporter and the closest thing to the senior man on the Romney beat.”<\/p>\n And as of yesterday, he’s heard Romney dissemble one too many times.
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\nThe entire video is online<\/a>, and is certainly worth watching, if only because this kind of exchange simply never happens. Romney made a bogus claim about the role of lobbyists in his campaign; Johnson called him on it immediately; and Romney proceeded to debate Johnson on the meaning of the phrase “my campaign.”<\/p>\n