The election is too close too call. McCain and Palin have a pronounced trait of vindictiveness and revenge. If they win they'll have a mental list of every reporter and media outlet they think were mean to them. No sense getting on a shit list if you can avoid it. Doesn't matter if it means not reporting the truth or uncomfortable facts. Access down the road ranks higher. Whether it's getting a sit with Obama or McCain is immaterial, the sit is what's important.

To me this sounds a lot like the privacy that has characterized Cheney's term as VP. All the "undisclosed location" nonsense, executive privilege, puppetmaster stuff has gotten Cheney subterranean approval ratings.

So why isn't that comparison being made. The Obama camp should be saying that the GOP is committed to another four years of a Cheney-like vice presidency. They don't have to say anything about Cheney's corruption, politics, or anything else specific, just compare the two and let voters fill in the blanks. It seems like a sure-fire way to lower confidence in the Palin/McCain ticket.

"Palin's Vice Presidential campaign shows the same lack of transparency as Cheney's Vice Presidency."

It's an easy sell.

The McCain strategy unfortunately appears to be working. As the Daily Howler blog has noted, the press has given McCain a free ride for decades, and that is all the information some people seem to want. Plus, based on McCain's misleading speeches and ads, 51 % of Americans polled incorrectly believe that Obama will raise taxes and a large percentage of swing voters and others have no idea that Palin ran up a deficit as mayor, lost money selling that plane, hired high school pal cronies (that real estate agent who liked cows as Secr. of Agriculture) and lied about the Bridge to Nowhere that she wanted.

Too many in the media will be unable to admit a mistake (they were played), and will continue the "balanced" coverage of inventing an Obama lie for every McCain.

Whether McCain pays a price for these tactics now is up to the reporters who are being snubbed.

I'm not so sure about this. It strikes me as a variation of "ref"-ing, where the media accuses itself of being liberal, and then repents. In this case, they report McCain/Palin's concerns (remember Palin's "I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion"?), and then bend over backwards to prove they're fair to him. I think the media ownership had far more influence than the actual show hosts or reporters.

I just hope they keep it up. They are starting to get nasty towards the press and they are getting pissed off. Trashing the NYT for *gasp* telling the truth. The free ride should have been over a long time ago

It's called running out the clock. McCain/Palin can string this along untill the election. It's only afew weeks. Why answer questions when that will only cause them problems? They're getting plenty of attention as it is, maybe not always good attention, but it doesn't seem to be harming them.

The McCain campaign has to be feeling pretty confident right now. He's neck and neck with Obama in the national polls, but the electoral map is slowly but surely trending McCain's way. Palin still has the base revved up, which she was brought in to do. McCain is somehow surviving his daily gaffes and lies. Shutting down access is a smart move for them in the final stretch.

Its frustrating and depressing, but I think they have clear sailing to the end if they can avoid total debate disasters.

He's neck and neck with Obama in the national polls, but the electoral map is slowly but surely trending McCain's way.

Um, what polls are you looking at? The current trends are in the opposite direction in both cases.

It's fair to say that the McCain campaign is preventing people from vetting Palin by keeping her away from the press. This isn't to say that she didn't deserve some time to bone up on a few things, but she's had that time. I'm not sure whether I want the Democrats to keep up the drum beat on this issue, because if they do, they might lower expectations even further, so that when she does do one big interview before the election, she won't look bad.

Of course, by keeping her away from the press, the McCain campaign might also be screwing itself, because the few times where we've seen her in a situation besides the stump, she hasn't come across that badly to people who are open to voting for McCain. If this keeps up, she might have higher expectations than she'd otherwise have to meet in the debate.

the sludgification of our political discourse by the McCain campaign, and the rejection of any role for the press, is more than a bother; it's downright worrisome. Welcome to a preview of McCain's Fascist Amerika.

Isn't it enough that Palin survived the onslaught of Sean Hannity's relentless interrogation? "How wrong is Barack Obama for America? Answer me!"

Simple reply can be:

Senator McCain, giving speeches isn't "vetting" - answering questions from professionals is "vetting."

McCain is such a wank, the proper punishment is to bring back the ghost of Keating Five and keep pumping that baby.

I'm beginning to think that the McCain Campaign doesn't care about pissing off the MSM because they're betting that a majority of Murkans just don't read anymore. After spending a weekend making campaign calls to Nevada, I'm afraid they may be right.

Note to self: SNAP OUT OF IT!

Biden should be doing weekly press conferences.

Saint Zak: the final vote could easily go the other way, with McCain winning the popular vote (from all those cranks in the West comping over slim margins in states like VA) but Obama winning through the EC. It would be poetic justice ...

Look at Palin's incomprehensible answer on the question of banning oil exports and it's obvious why they aren't allowing interviews -- what happened to that Katie Couric thing they planned? The campaign has realized, as have those in Juneau, that she is: utterly incompetent in terms of managing things; a compulsive liar who embellishes and reinvents details constantly; has a beauty pagent participant's skill at memorizing key phrases but has zero analytic ability, thus often does not understand the question asked; did indeed get a "D" in her macroeconomics-for-dummies course she took for her sports journalism major at her minor college; and thus no matter how much heat she takes for not giving interviews is infinitely preferable to the fallout that would happen if she did do interviews.

Now, the question is the press. The people here are correct that the press has been easily played. In fact, they aided Bush in 2000 and 2004 by downplaying his known deficiencies, which were great but not nearly as bad as Palin's. But will they do the same in 2008?

I'm not so sure, for two reasons. First, while Bush/Cheney/Rove bitched about the press in general terms, they also developed excellent one-on-one relationships with most press members. You know, as in "We hate the press, Mr. Russert, but YOU are an exception." Then of course Mr. Russert, or whomever, would fall over himself to prove he wasn't too liberal. McCain/Davis hasn't done this at all -- they've made their animosity towards the press very personal.

Even that might not be enough for the press to expose McCain/Palin -- but I've sensed two trends amongst those in high power (no, not the fringe powers like Dobson, but the non-religious nuts like Murdoch). First, they are getting used to the idea of a President Obama, and are comfortable with that idea. Obama has taken many steps that we on the left have found too centrist, but which have helped pave the way for his acceptance. Second, I sense they are generally alarmed and appalled at the idea of a President Palin.

Obama now holds a bigger lead than Reagan did over Carter at this point in 1980, and Reagan won by a wide margin due to the economy. Let's see how the first debate goes and how it is covered. If this election follows past trends, Obama's poll lead will start to expand after the first debate due to a lot of people in the middle -- virtually all of whom cannot stand GWB -- getting comfortable with him.

Biden should be doing weekly press conferences.

Biden would just love it if the press would pay a little more attention to him.

Whether McCain pays a price for these tactics now is up to the reporters who are being snubbed.

Reporters being snubbed? What about me the voter-taxpayer? I'd certainly like to know if Palin believes end-times are nigh. Shouldn't that be a legitimate concern of mine?

As I said in the previous thread, there's an element here that to criticize McCain on these grounds, the media would have to admit they'd been punked, and that won't be easy.

McCain's press sucks these days.

I smell a big old Bar Ba Chew in the near future.

I notice Malkin and the M&M spewing terrorist scarf malcontents are railing against McCain and his amnesty plan calling McCain "McAmnesty" while at the same time attacking a supposedly smear video on Palin and the Alaskan Independence party[?] she may have been part of.

Steve Benen: "Whether McCain pays a price for these tactics now is up to the reporters who are being snubbed."

It most certainly is NOT up to the "reporters". It is up to the ultra-rich corporate CEOs who pay those so-called "reporters" big fat salaries.

And what the vapid "on-air personalities", vacuous "pundits", and slavishly sycophantic stenographers of the corporate-owned media are paid to do is to propagandize the American people in furtherance of their corporate owners' agenda, which in this instance is to put Their Man John McCain in the White House.

That's why, no matter how much the Rove-Palin campaign insults them or snubs them or blatantly lies to them, the so-called "reporters" of the corporate-owned mass media will shut up and take it.

McCain will "pay a price" alright. The price he will pay is being the bought-and-paid-for tool of America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc., using the powers of the federal government to advance their rapacious, ruthless class war against everyone else.

But that's a "price" that John McCain has been happily "paying" for 26 years.

It's wrong to call what John McCain is running a "political campaign." He's actually running a tightly managed political theater with playwrite Tucker Eskew feeding the intellectually feeble actor his lines.

Reporters have been asked to become theater critics -- the fictionalized plot isn't meant to be questioned. McCain only wants reporters to judge the acting.

Between the beating McCain's manufactured image has taken and the likely reduced Republican presence in the Senate next year, McCain's career as an influential politician ends this year. Even if he lingers on in the Senate, his reputation as a "bipartisan maverick' is gone, and it's hard to imagine many Democrats forgiving his reprehensible campaign any time quickly.

McCain can contemplate the sacrifice of his honor, legacy and reputation from his seven luxury homes and 13 cars. I hope they give him comfort.

Then again, wouldn't it be funny to see McCain suck up to Obama the way he did Bush?

and it's hard to imagine many Democrats forgiving his reprehensible campaign any time quickly.

WTF Gregory? Have you been paying attention to the Democrats in the Senate?

Joe Lieberman has endorsed the Republican candidate and spoke at the goddamn Republican convention and they STILL slobber on him. I'll be surprised if Reid actually yanks his Committee chair once the next Congress gets into session.

These are old-school guys in the Senate - politics is politics but friendship is forever for these guys. Running a nasty campaign against a freshman Senator isn't going to impact them one. little. bit. The newbs might give McCain the cold shoulder, but I'll bet even Russ Feingold won't have a problem sitting down with McCain to craft some bi-partisan legislation and let McCain reclaim his "maverick" mantle before he retires.

Jet: "...the Alaskan Independence party[?] she may have been part of."

Meaning, Sarah Palin wasn't a member of the AIP, but we believed for a few days that she was, therefore there's still a possibility that she was.

Joe Lieberman has endorsed the Republican candidate and spoke at the goddamn Republican convention and they STILL slobber on him. I'll be surprised if Reid actually yanks his Committee chair once the next Congress gets into session.

I disagree. Of course the Democrats let Lieberman get away with his turncoat actions for far too long, but speaking at the Republican National Convention was going too far. Come next session, the Donks won't need Lieberman for a majority, so there goes his gavel. And there goes Lieberman's novelty as a Democrat-who-spouts-Republican-talking-points that gets him on the news shows. Republicans who spout Republican talking points are a dime a dozen. After all, who hears from Zell Miller any more?

It's called running out the clock.

Yes, but you run out the clock when you're winning. McCain is losing in the national polls and in key swing states.

Meaning, Sarah Palin wasn't a member of the AIP, but we believed for a few days that she was, therefore there's still a possibility that she was.

Quick question, Grumpy: Did Palin make the kind of syncophatic video for Alaska's Democratic Party she did for the AIP?

Card-carrying member or no, her support for this extremist separatist party is a matter of record.

It's called running out the clock. McCain/Palin can string this along untill the election. It's only afew weeks. Why answer questions when that will only cause them problems?

This is definitely their plan, and it would have worked, too, if not for you meddling kids...er, for the demise of the 24-hour news cycle. Five more weeks wouldn't have been a hugely long time to hide when news was mostly confined to daily papers and evening broadcasts, but it's forever now.

And how depressing to know that to the extent that reporters will hit McCain for cowering under his bed, they'll do it because they're personally offended rather than professionally competent.

Reporters should ask the campaign that if the McCain campaign has not faith in Palin's ability in front of a group of reporters, why the American people should have faith in her ability to be Vice President.

Oh, come on, she's getting more vetting than Caligula's Horse got! What do you people want? A video feed of her colonoscopy?

This from Matt Taibbi :

"Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.

"And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed Middle American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant sized bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the sizzlin' picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because that image on TV reminds him of the mean brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning.

"Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV – and this country is going to eat her up, cheering every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation."

Couldn't agree more

Palin was asked a question by a citizen a few weeks ago (after a rally): Will she be voting for indicted Ted Stevens? She refused to answer. Letting her take questions from the press will be lethal to the McPalin campaign.

OBF, where you been? You've been missed.

McCain to the press (with a Bogart impersonation):
"You know, I've meant a lotta' really good reporters but you people are really...something...special".

The media's response (blushing) "Really"