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McCain Campaign Screens Reporters

By Tommy Christopher
Jul 24th 2008 3:30PM

Filed Under:eRepublicans, John McCain, Breaking News, 2008 President, Media

As I was researching another story today, I came across a series of stories that asked whether the McCain

campaign was screening out less friendly reporters from their press conference calls. David Corn from Mother Jones asks, Gabriel Beltrone at HuffPo investigates, Hot Air's Ed Morrissey mocks, and TPM's Greg Sargent puts the question to the McCain campaign.

After all of that, none of them were able to answer that question. Of course, they didn't ask me, or I would have told them: Of course, they do! I have been planning to write about it, even requesting a comment from the McCain campaign for the story. I have hesitated, until now, not wanting it to seem too personal. After reading all of these stories, however, I had to set the record straight. As luck would have it, a little more proof appeared today.

The McCain campaign has been freezing me out since July 2nd, screening me out of asking questions on every call, failing to return calls for comment, and ignoring every email except one, a 1 word response issued yesterday.

Curiously enough, I was able to get a question in today. They introduced me as Ed Morrissey, though. That was strange. I corrected their error, and asked my 2 questions. You can listen below.

I have been on every McCain call for the past 3 weeks, and most of the Obama calls. You can see from Beltrone's catalog that I'm usually among the first questioners on the Obama calls. Is that because they think I'm special? No. They might think that, but it isn't why.

The reason is that I have figured out how to exploit the conference calling system to be first in line. I don't want to give away my secret, but if you look back at the latter-day Clinton calls, you'll see the same thing.

That's important, because I have had my virtual hand up at every press conference call for 3 weeks now, and been called on zero times. On 6 of those calls, the moderator said that there were no more questions.

I called the campaign, and the conference calling center. The campaign, of course, took a message and never called me back. The conference calling center referred me, on Monday, to a McCain staffer who handles the calls. She put me on hold to "check on it," then disconnected me. Since then, I've been unable to reach her.

The shame of it is, until now, I've had a good relationship with the McCain press office. During the primaries, they were far more responsive than either the Clinton or Obama press offices. They always sent me material that I requested quickly, and frequently, I would get spokesman Tucker Bounds on the phone on the first try, an impossibility with the Clinton campaign, and a rarity with Obama's.

So, what happened?

First, let's start with Beltrone's summation:

Out of the 59 questions asked by reporters on 16 McCain calls, there was a disproportionately high number from mainstream and local news operations generally considered center or right-leaning (including well-known conservative bloggers). As a matter of fact, only two questions came from reporters for liberal outlets -- Andrea Bernstein of WNYC (6/23) and Connie Bruck of the New Yorker (6/23). Over the course of three weeks, USA Today and HotAir.com each got in five questions; CNN got in four; and Bloomberg, New York Sun, and the Tampa Tribune asked three.

Beltrone is right, I'm not from a liberal outlet, but I am known to the McCain campaign as someone who will ask a challenging question. Still, as you can see from Beltrone's catalog, I was getting some questions in, until I apparently asked the wrong question.

The McCain campaign offered TPM this non-denial denial:

Asked to respond, McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers tells me that the first time the McCain campaign hears the questions that are asked on the call is when the entire call-full of reporters hears them. "No one knows the questions before they're asked," Rogers said. "No one hears the questions before they're asked."

But are the questioners permitted to ask a question -- or blocked from doing so -- based on the news org they're affiliated with? "You've been on the calls," Rogers replied. "We take on all comers."

In the interest of space, you can click here to see David Corn's explanation of why this is not a denial at all.

"Captain" Ed Morrissey was not amused with Beltrone's analysis:

It must be a slow news day at the Huffington Post. Gabriel Beltrone "investigated" the McCain campaign's press/blog conference calls, looking for evidence of bias. Beltrone discovered that one particular blogger has had more than two questions answered in these calls ... me. Basically calling me a shill, Beltrone manages to use one question I asked as evidence, demonstrating that Beltrone doesn't have a very good grasp of the issues.

I think Beltrone and Captain Ed missed an important point. I wouldn't call Captain Ed a McCain shill at all, and I don't think the campaign is looking for softballs. It seems that they are trying to avoid reporters, and outlets, who might ask tougher, more politically challenging questions. Captain Ed might ask tough questions, too, but is not likely to challenge ideas that sound good to Republicans, like that battery prize.

It's no accident that the campaign issued a jokey warning to reporters regarding access to the luxury suite in the new campaign plane. McCain trades on his relationship with the press all the time, but there is a not-so-subtle pressure to stay in line. The carrot of candidate access has become deleterious in all political reporting, but this is a glaring case of that.

Lest you think this has something to do with my point of view as a writer, I will say, up front, that I have been a frequent critic of McCain's policies and his politics. On the other hand, I have also defended him numerous times when I felt he was being treated unfairly, as with the New York Times' Vicki Isemann story.

That's not the point. In America, public figures are answerable to the people, and the press is the most important link in that chain. As long as the questions have journalistic merit, there is no excuse for shutting out inquiry. If they don't like the questions, it is their job to come up with better answers.

If you still doubt that the McCain campaign is screening its press conferences, do this: Call the McCain press office, and ask them why they misidentified me today.

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Tom D4:20PMJul 24th 2008

The screen you out because you have absolutely no objectivity whatsoever and are totally partisan and a butt licker to Obama. I am a moderate and not totally on board with McCain but your column is so biased that it is pushing me and others I know to McCain. Stick your column in your ear

Christina4:27PMJul 24th 2008

haha Yeah? Tommy Christopher's columns are so important that they are pushing you to vote for McCain?
Smart man.

C. Jenkins5:00PMJul 24th 2008

Tom D4:20PMJul 24th 2008

The screen you out because you have absolutely no objectivity whatsoever and are totally partisan and a butt licker to Obama. I am a moderate and not totally on board with McCain but your column is so biased that it is pushing me and others I know to McCain. Stick your column in your ear
_____________________________________________________
And I suppose you think TC will be so hurt by your words, he will post only positive Articles on McCain. First of all, he'd be required to call on a "Sherlock Holmes" in an attempt to locate something positive. If in fact one could be found, before TC could get it on the Board, McCain would have screwed it up.

Like you're not a Republican.

Obama 08

matt5:37PMJul 24th 2008

how much do you think tommy would pay to lick Osama ooops Obama's taint?

MAP6:25PMJul 24th 2008

Well, I guess so considering the Obama camp continually places his insane supporters into McCains playing field telling him how much they disagree with him. And mocking him. Just like they did to Hillary. it is the same old tactics that Obama uses while trying to make believe he is the good guy. Obama screens people before they come 100 feet near him. he has to keep his image you know.........

Diana6:46PMJul 24th 2008

It sounds as though McSame's press office has taken a chapter (and verse) from out of the White House playbook. Now, doesn't this make you miss Wolfson & Company all the more? They at least employed a democratic process (small "d") to their press conference calls, and above all else, knew how to put on a good show. I, for one, truly miss them.

NO-BARACK-HUSSEIN-OBAMA7:59PMJul 24th 2008

If I was arrested 30 years ago and convicted of child molestation --- but since then, I told you I had reformed and am now living a decent life, would you allow me to babysit your grandchildren? I THINK NOT! I believe you would always wonder if your grandchildren would be safe --- based on my “past history”!

FROM OBAMA'S BOOKS:

Dreams of My Father: “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”

From Dreams of My Father : “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.”

From Dreams of My Father: “There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.”

From Dreams of My Father: “It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.”

From Dreams of My Father: “I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.”

From Audacity of Hope: “I WILL STAND WITH THE MUSLIMS SHOULD THE POLITICAL WINDS SHIFT IN AN UGLY DIRECTION.”

You can't change a tiger's stripes. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA HAS TOLD TOO MANY LIES --- HE HAS TOO MANY TIES TO TERRORISTS AND ANTI-AMERICANS.

WE CANNOT IGNORE THIS MAN’S “PAST HISTORY”.

McCAIN IN 2008 - HILLARY IN 2012.

EGObaMANIAC8:05PMJul 24th 2008

This is about the funniest headline I have seen in ages. McCain screens reporters? Obama the plastic jesus has that down to an art form, barring all foreign press from his european photo-op and refusing interviews and press conferences from the reporters he dragged with him to take the news he chose to feed them.

ROFL Since the PM doesn't have anything better to than bash McCain I guess that means we can just ignore the stories and post what is news to us. Is that right?

EGObaMANIAC8:07PMJul 24th 2008

Media Love of Obama Doesn't Equal Victory
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

By Susan Estrich
---------
I can’t help but think of that story as I watch some of our nation’s finest — or at least our most famous — political reporters fawning all over Barack Obama like entertainment reporters covering movie star. Is this good for them? Or for him, for that matter?

They are reporting what they are getting, which in many cases means what they are given, not exactly reporting by any definition.

Andrea Mitchell made the point that the press is running video and pictures they are being given
with no idea of what’s been edited in or out, but that certainly hasn’t stopped her own network
from doing so.

The problem with all this fawning is threefold. First of all, the fact that the press doesn’t push doesn’t mean that, sooner or later, the Republicans won’t. They will. Every question the press doesn’t ask and Obama doesn’t have to answer will be the subject of a speech at the Republican convention, an ad down the road, a tirade by somebody that will ring truer than it should precisely ecause it hasn’t been addressed before.

Second, being the favorite of the press doesn’t necessarily win you votes. Most people don’t
actually like the press. The friend of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. Being liked by the
boys and girls on the bus doesn’t necessarily earn you the respect of the people back home.

Standing up to them, giving as good as you get, all that helps. But if being loved by the press were a sure route to success, Hillary Clinton would never have carried all those big states after March 1. Ronald Reagan would never have gotten elected President. George Bush would have lost, twice.

Third, and perhaps most important, the American press corps is the most fickle lover you could ever have. They make my worst ex-boyfriend look like a paragon of loyalty and devotion, giving new meaning to the old expression, “love ‘em and leave ‘em.” Except the press doesn’t just leave, they destroy. The better the coverage at the outset, the worse it will almost certainly be later on. I can’t begin to count how many times I have warned politicians and candidates to worry as much about the good coverage as the bad, because the more air they put in your balloon, the bigger the target when they start shooting.

Amen??????????????????

EGObaMANIAC8:10PMJul 24th 2008

Rockbama Plays Baghdad
07/21/2008

If there were anyone among the network anchors interested in reporting more than in helping Obama create imaginary credentials they could ask some questions designed to elicit information American voters need. Obama met with Hamid Karzai and is scheduled to meet with Gen. David Petraeus and Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq. Real journalists would ask questions such as:

* Gen. Petraeus has said that our progress in Iraq is both tenuous and reversible. You’ve said that we have to be as careful withdrawing from Iraq as we were careless going in. Doesn’t “careful” mean ensuring that our accomplishments aren’t reversed? Can you establish a schedule for withdrawal without endangering those accomplishments?

* Prime Minister Maliki apparently favors a rapid withdrawal of US forces. Do you believe America’s interests in preserving our accomplishments should override Iraqi desires for a quick withdrawal?

* You told Lara Logan that America’s future leadership should not be unilateral, that you see our role in “building partnerships.” Will you tell French President Sarkozy that we will not act militarily without the approval of allies such as France or international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council?

* You’ve said that you agree with the policy of taking unilateral action in Pakistan if the Pakistani government doesn’t cooperate in striking at al-Queda there. Shouldn’t an analogous policy apply to the Iranian nuclear program?

****** None of those questions will be asked by the network anchors this week. Couric, Gibson and Williams are not there to commit acts of journalism. They’re stage props on Rockbama’s World Credibility Tour.

EGObaMANIAC8:10PMJul 24th 2008

July 23, 2008
Obama Faking It
By Maggie Gallagher

Obama has a problem: What do you do when you're a lightly accomplished one-term senator, a former state legislator from Illinois, a Harvard law graduate who has no substantive record of accomplishments, and you are running against a war hero whom polls show that Americans overwhelmingly view as far more fit to be commander in chief?

Pose, of course.

What else can a guy like Obama do?

So the man who would be president of the United States of America flies around the world in the middle of a political campaign, enlisting the U.S. military and the Berlin Wall as free campaign commercial backdrops, to lend him the emotional weight and substance -- the aura as a commander -- that he hasn't yet earned on his own.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell was the one journalist with the courage to name what she was actually seeing happen: Obama faking even being interviewed by the press.

EGObaMANIAC8:17PMJul 24th 2008

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Hardball” from Baghdad, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell objects to the “message management” that resulted in three days of images of Senator Obama that were almost entirely – except for a lone Iraq interview with Terry Moran – produced and released by the Pentagon.

Andrea Mitchell, re Obama: “He didn’t have reporters with him. He didn’t have a press pool. He didn’t do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. … You’re seeing selected pictures taken by the military … So, there’s a real press issue here. Politically, it’s smart as can be. But we have not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.

“I have great respect for the military, of what they do best, which is to fight war, keep the peace, do all sorts of economic and civil reconstruction here in Iraq. I don’t think journalism is the prime thing that we recruit them and pay them for.”

One could ask..why is the press with him, why will he not allow foreign reporters to question him?

The answer....he is afraid of the truth.

EGObaMANIAC8:18PMJul 24th 2008

Three cheers for McCain staff LOL

EGObaMANIAC8:21PMJul 24th 2008

Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains Slim Edge Over McCainOverseas trip has not altered voter preferences to date Daily tracking of national registered voters' presidential election preferences finds Barack Obama with a slight advantage over John McCain, 45% to 43%.

Joyce8:32PMJul 24th 2008

It shouldn't surprise you as your Obama tilt is most obvious. I guess the McCain camp can do as they want just as the Obama camp does.
The blatant bias throughout the campaign has been very troubling. Promoting one's own choice is NOT the job of a journalist; educating the public is. The problem is we can't count on the truth from the media anymore. Manipulating has become the norm. I'm afraid HONEST journalism is dead & gone. It's a pity.....for the journalists as well as the public.

EGObaMANIAC8:39PMJul 24th 2008

McCain Makes Significant Gains in Key Battleground States
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com staff writer
Thursday, July 24, 2008; 10:00 AM

Republican John McCain has quickly closed the gap between himself and Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama in several key battleground states even as the Arizona senator struggles to break hrough the wall-to-wall coverage of Obama's trip to Europe and the Middle East this week.

McCain and Obama are in a statistical dead heat in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota while the Illinois senator has a more comfortable double-digit edge in Wisconsin, according to polling conducted by Quinnipiac University for washingtonpost.com and the Wall Street Journal during the past week. Only in Colorado, however, does McCain hold a greater percentage of the vote share than Obama.

EGObaMANIAC8:56PMJul 24th 2008

Lets not discriminate against certain reporters or, even CERTAIN NETWORKS. lol

Hey! Who Let Reality In?? »
NoQuarter

I was just catching FOX News and it appears Obama demanded to know how it is that FOX got hookups in all those military bases where he performed his shameless photo opportunities? It seems paranoid Narcissist Obama believed it was by Presidential Executive Order that his reverie and comfort with his Worship Trip was interrupted by the potential that somebody might actually capture and report something that isn’t set up as a photo op a not-so-Kodak moment about the Great One.

As it turns out, the troops get to request which news outlets they prefer and FOX is always included. Yes, Barack, sometimes you just can’t control everything around your own self-absorbed world. Sometimes, people get choices. I know this is hard for you to believe, since your entire candidacy has been an Axelrod production.

FOX just happens to be very popular over there in the war zones. You see, Barack, the men and women over there are tired and weary, and their lives are in danger daily. Read the rest

VOTE-COUNTRY-NOT-PARTY10:39PMJul 24th 2008

OBAMA WOULD RATHER LOSE THE WAR THAN LOSE THE ELECTION.

TAXPAYERS VOTING FOR OBAMA IS LIKE CHICKENS VOTING FOR COLONEL SANDERS.

The question of whether the surge vote would make a difference in my vote --- NO IT WILL NOT; HOWEVER, I would never vote for someone with the lack of experience and shady past of BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.

I was watching the news this morning --- and they were talking about Nobama’s views on Israel and his statement on a divided Jerusalem. It seems like Nobama is campaigning in foreign countries and it gave me a very uneasy feeling. Since when do we campaign overseas?

Europeans can’t vote for our president --- or can they?

Think before you vote!

McCain in November.

VOTE-COUNTRY-NOT-PARTY10:40PMJul 24th 2008

InOtherNews10:46PMJul 24th 2008

FOX News Poll: No Bounce for Obama From Overseas Trip
Thursday, July 24, 2008

By Dana Blanton

E-Mail Print Share:

The significant news coverage Barack Obama is receiving on his foreign trip has not translated into a bounce in his numbers, a just-released FOX News poll shows. Obama now holds the slimmest possible edge over John McCain, leading by just 41 percent - 40 percent in a head-to-head contest. In fact, Obama’s support is down slightly from his 45 percent - 41 percent advantage last month.

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