As soon as I saw that President McCain was going to be on, I cancelled my DVR recording of "Face." I just don't give a shit what he has to say, and haven't since November.

-it's human nature to go with the familiar, the safe, the easy.

Pioneers get arrows in their backs.

Sticking with the world of TeeVee, for every ground breaking show, like "All in the Family", there are a hundred laugh-track driven sitcoms that last a season-or less.

Also, the Beltway Crowd is an incestuous collection of egos that scratch each other's backs, attend each other's book signings and cocktail parties, and even, on occasion -oh, the horror!- sleep with each other's spouses. . .

Does this guy goose ratings? Seriously, does he deliver eye-popping numbers?

You people don't have any respect for President John McCain, and you oughta be god damned ashamed of yourselves.

Listen up: There is a regime that is running this country, and the sooner you realize that -- and submit -- and go on about your business trying just to survive in this corrupt corporate-run society the better off you'll be, Otherwise you just get anguish and heart ache. You read me?

And quit yer whining, Benen -- suck it up...

The McCain mystique mystifies me - and it isn't restricted to Sunday shows either. But then the Reagan mystique mystified me as well.

Steve,

There's an article to be written here---or an occasional series of blog posts. Who does the booking for the Sunday talk shows? How long have they had their jobs? How did they become the bookers? What do they look for in guests? Do bookers lose their jobs for booking the "wrong" guests? Why do they book the same few people repeatedly? When and how do they decide to book guests for a Sunday show? What kind of competition is there among bookers for guests? Do bookers "counterprogram"? Or, perhaps more importantly, why don't bookers do more "counterprogramming"? Why, with a new administration, hasn't one of the Sunday shows started a regular, or occasional segment, of interviewing new and emerging powerful voices in Washington?

I could go on, but you get the idea. And, of course, you do have a fulltime gig. Still, if you can't do it, maybe you could pitch the idea to WM's editors?

McCain's continued presence bothers me somewhat, but he's almost good TV. He is a comforting, familiar face for many in the audience --- probably even more so for the older crowd. He's lively, makes jokes, seems to be friends with the reporters. I think I understand the producer's logic. They just want you there to watch the ads, not to be informed or persuaded.

Bear in mind that they're not appeasing the wingnuts either by having McCain, since the far right wing hates his guts. It's TV logic, not politics.

What is so different between McCain being on MtP for the one millionth time and seeing the same cast of characters I see on Countdown (for instance)?

Both situations are the same: lazy program producers who would rather put on the same faces because they know they will perform as expected.

(That's why Olbermann is so happy to get Richard Wolffe back on the program. He is a good trained performer.)

I have a hard time watching the MSNBC shows for the same reason I have a hard time watching the Sunday talk shows: I've heard it before and I'm not learning anything.

Yes, it is crazy to put on McCain again -- but why do you care? Are going to watch anyway? How many blogs "document the atrocities" of the Sunday talk shows? Dozens of them.

Why?

These shows won't improve by bringing on folk from the left; they will improve when the hosts and producers are fired and replaced by creative, intelligent people, people interested in learning new things, even if that means having a few bad guests every once in a while.

McCain is predictable, boring, and safe. That's why he is on television every Sunday morning.

Four words, Steve:

Tire.
Swing.
Barbecue.
Sauce.

The media loves them some McCain. I've stopped wondering about it. He's a Republican, they're mostly all Republicans. Birds of a feather. He's gonna accept any and all invitations to babble with the bobbleheads.

Stop obsessing about it, Steve. It's gonna happen whether you like it or not. I don't like it, so I don't watch it. I have better things to do on a Sunday morning.

I wonder if we could get one of the producer/bookers for these cable shows to go into a witness protection program, and then write a tell-all memoir from Rushsylvania, Ohio, or wherever the safehouse is?

I would dearly love to know the inside story, blow by blow, on what goes into the business of deciding who gets in our faces on these shows. McCain with Bob, or Frank Gaffney on Hardball, or Liz Cheney on Morning Joe.

What's the audience research that they're seeing that makes them do this? What, exactly, is going on here that we don't already know?

I'm serious. Is there anyone reading this who's done this kind of work recently who can (quite anonymously and credibly) explain the moral reality of a booker on one of these shows? Is is really as close to pimping as it appears?

I don't think it has as much to do with the bookers as it does with the Republicans. I think the other potential Republican guests on military / foreign policy are all saying "no, but you should ask Sen. McCain." I think they have defaulted to letting him be their main voice on these matters. After being told "no" enough, I'd just call the "yes" man first, too.

maybe they want to restrict the crazy on the show. for all his lameness McCain is one of the least crazy of the gop senators. If your going for a non crazy gop senator who is always willing to appear mccain is easy.

Don't y'all remember McCain referring to the media as his "base"? He wasn't kidding.

There was a time not too long ago when I would watch those Sunday morning talk shows. Now I don't. For the same reason that I no longer watch any cable or network news programing. Collectively they are an insult to the concept of journalism.

But just out of curiosity, who would you prefer to watch on the Sunday morning talk shows? I've watched progressives make their case so poorly I want to pull out what little hair I have left. Some names that quickly come to mind for me include Al Franken, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow. How does one lobby (see massappeal @ 11:24) whoever books these things for better and diverse commentary? I want to see some informed blowback to the regular blowjobs.

Maybe I should start taking this personally...

Naw. Krugman reads you.
And he thinks you are hip.

Enough said.

They should have Michelle Bachmann on every weekend to make the Republicans case for every issue.

At least she would be fun to watch, in a sadistic kind of way.

Having McCain on all the time is the only way to sustain the illusion that the Republicans are relevant while they await the arrival of their "great white hope."

It's not just that bookers are addicted to booking McCain. It's that McCain is addicted to attention and cannot get enough of that attention crack. McCain is not himself unless he has a hundred cameras recording his every move. Recent events have shown that the tendency seems to be hereditary.

I am waiting for a big, hand-wringing essay from AP or Politico or Richard Cohen: "Is John McCain Over-Exposed?" Any day now.

Meet the Priss..
Old man yells at clouds

Stay Tuned

Sounds to me like rather than being "addicted" to McCain, the bookers are just dumb and lazy.

Maybe that's why those Sunday morning shows always suck.

It speaks volumes as to the depth of the Republican Senatorial bench.

It's OK. McCain reminds every watcher of several things: (1) he's a loser,literally;(2) GOPers have no leader to replace him; (3) he knows very little about current issues; and (4) mostly what he says is demonstrably wrong. Don't you think the networks are helping us just a little to remind people so regularly and frequently of all this?
Charles

Sunday talk is amazingly tilted towards 54+ viewers. 25-54 people drop to only one-third of the viewers, and so the shows book more McCains, and thus continues the death spiral of Sunday talk....

The ratings for Sunday, October 11, 2009:

TOTAL VIEWERS

NBC "MEET THE PRESS" 3,020,000
ABC "THIS WEEK" 2,660,000
CBS "FACE THE NATION" 2,430,000
FOX "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" 1,140,000

A25-54 MM/Rtg

NBC "MEET THE PRESS" 990,000
ABC "THIS WEEK" 810,000
CBS "FACE THE NATION" 700,000
FOX "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" 390,000

Does anyone outside the morons in D.C. even pay attention to these stupid shows? I haven't watched them in going on 30 years now, and I don't feel I have missed a thing.

These stupid shows are merely the network's bone thrown to "public-spiritedness" that they have to do to keep their broadcast licenses. Other than that, they employ otherwise-unemployable morons like Stephanopoulos, the dumbest "Democrat" in history.

they are just lazy!

Wait, shouldn't McCain be in church on Sunday morning.

Heathen.

McCain may have been trounced in the last election, but he is still regarded as "serious" by the beltway crowd. That means when it comes to war, he can look down at the table, wring his hands, and calmly say more soldiers are need to die for American interests (like T. Boone getting his oil.) The press gets off on that kind of grim resignation.

Besides, on the Republican scale of batsh*t insanity, McCain sounds like he at least takes his meds from time to time, unlike virtually the entire rest of the caucus.

I'm not upset that the Sunday talkers keep booking McCain, I'm upset that they even bother to book Republicans at all. A "magic 8-ball" with crazy expressions inside would fill in nicely for a Republican response on any issue.

It seems that the Sunday talk shows are like the Senate filibuster rule -- institutions designed to magnify the influence of a losing minority way out of proportion to their actual popularity.

I assume that they ask McCain because he always says, "yes".

I mean, it's not like he does any real work. As you point out, he doesn't do bills and has no leadership position. He's lazy. So he has time to do it. He's like some crazy old guy who does nothing but write letters to the editor. It's his hobby.

Coffee and doughnuts, friends. Coffee and doughnuts.

For all the complaints about Obama having the 'media in the tank', McCain continues to exemplify the media at it's most personally devoted. He's the school quarterback who does no wrong to those with crushes on him, even after leading his school to unprecedented losing seasons.

When Steph moves on to GMA and backup news anchor, maybe ABC can just hire McCain to host "This Week."

He's the political equivalent to a high school "easy lay."

I saw McCain was booked and I rushed right over, Steve. I like reading your exercised reaction when it occurs. Thus I don't have to have one. I never watch Face unless someone I really enjoy is booked. In fact, most Sun shows have become very predictable. I only set the DVR for Fareed Zakaria. I'm addicted to his calm and reason.

Be sure and document this Sunday's key talking point about Obama. Last week is was "Is he tough enough?

Ah, but you neglect to mention that McCain was a POW, who bravely crashed his fourth or fifth aircraft so that we could be free.

President McCain better be wary of over-exposing himself. Peggy Noonan might find it boorish.

You're absolutely right on here,,, McPain is an eyesore and has been so since long before the election.

But I'm also sick of seeing and hearing from or about Rove, Clan Cheney, the Alien Murdoch Empire, the fucking holy rollers, the PNAC type chicken-hawk blowhards and an assortment of discredited ex militarists.

If I left anyone out, Screw them too.

i luv me some steve benen, but this getting to be deja vu all over again....it's become a weekly feature like friday catblogging.....

friday grampagrumpyblogging?

What, you don't remember how MtP had Michael Dukasis on every week during the First Gulf War?

But seriously, Sen. McCain is a real whiz when it comes to foreign affairs.

His spot-on perspectives concerning the situation along the Iraqi-Pakistani border, not to mention what's going on in Czechoslovakia these days, is something that I look forward to every week.

Sue beat me to it. Who else has the time? It's not like he has anything else to do, and if I were Cindy, I'd throw him out of the house, too.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious may I just say that the reason McCain is on all these shows is that he is available. He is, as you pointed, largely irrelevant but he does have high name recognition. I am thinking of sending him a tee-shirt I have seen that says: Beware! Retiree, knows everything and has the time to tell you about it.

a few points:

1) bookers are cruelly overworked human beings, and if they know they can get an instant *yes* from McCain, they will book him every weekend from now until forever.

2) the hosts/producers may well be asking for the guy every sunday. You don't refuse that if you're the booker.

3) the corporations that own the companies that produce the weekend news shows are all run by right-wing CEOs--to a man and woman--and I'm sure they all voted for McCain. Don't underestimate the desire of grunt producers to please their overlords.

McCain ain't on the air so much just because it's easy. That's part of it, but not all of it.

Steve, what you don't realize is that the bookers get free beer for life, courtesy of Cindy, for getting John out of her hair for the weekend.

I think you all forget that John McCain was a POW.

This alone entitles him to be on the teevee every Sunday, just so you can be reminded of that fact. Remember being a POW is the prime requisite for forming an intelligent effective foreign policy.

Then there's the BBQ rub.

CBS's Bob Schieffer is a right wing sycophant who repeatedly fluffed Republican McCain while simultaneously smacking down anyone that criticized him.

The most obscene moment of Schieffer's right wing sycophancy was when he was rude and disrespectful to retired military General Wesley Clark, a decorated veteran.

Schieffer was disrespectful to retired General Clark specifically so Schieffer could inflate Republican McCain's miserable understanding of military strategy and tactics.

Remember, Republican McCain didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia after five years of fighting in Iraq (where the differences between Sunni and Shia are crucial to understanding nearly every military problem we've had in Iraq).

Republican McCain didn't know who the Supreme Leader of Iran was.

Republican McCain thought we could 'muddle through in Afghanistan'.

Republican McCain's military judgement is reckless and ignorant, and there was CBS's Bob Schieffer openly sneering at a superior officer (far superior to McCain) in order to inflate Republican McCain.

CBS Face The Nation has been right wing enabling for years.

McCain is simply a proven bulwark to Bush-bashing. He has shown that he will not resort to any backward looking blame game sort of patter. That along with his too pitiful to whip, broken down old warhorse image makes him a safe choice for Sunday political talk fests.