Maybe the man crush thing is contagious and Chris Matthews isn't the only guy afflicted by it?

When I saw that McCain was going to be on Meet the Press this Sunday YOU were the first thought that came to mind. Keep making your point, maybe someday it will sink in where it will make a difference.

If it's Sunday...it's John McCain!"

John and Cindy give great Bar-b(ie)-ques!

Time to investigate how many media folks have eaten ribs and burgers at one of these affairs.

That might explain the frequency of John's TV interviews.

There's a very good reason to invite Sen. McCain every Sunday... it drives you just a little more 'round the bend every time it happens.

He'll make sure to undermine the heck out of the plan and say it all as though he is the ultimate authority...yes, and inviting him back does suggest to everyone he's all that and more..

Considering that the alternative is "Dick" Cheney, I'm not all that upset.

He also was on last night on NBC immediately after the President's speech. Not sure if that was in your tally, but nothing is more annoying than hearing the same talking points from a lost campaign over and over again.

If McCain had been elected we probably would invaded Iran, Pakistan and N. Korea by now. It's baffling to me that he is consistently given face time.

*headslamondesk

McCain's a media whore because it makes him feel important. He keeps being invited because the producers know he will say yes. It's easier to call him and get an immediate yes than to try to persuade one of the other R's on Armed Services. The producers would change their ways if everyone turned off the program whenever McCain is on.

President John McCain is our nation's secret weapon when he goes on the teevee every week and tells the world what the United States is really about and what we would do if we hadn't been kidnapped by ACORN and held hostage by Socialists for the last ten months.

President John McCain -- just by showing his face and sharing a tiny bit of his great wisdom on the teevee -- reveals to the world exactly what could rise again at any moment as the greatness of this country when we take charge of world-changing situations.

Actually, Cheney is better at this point because he's more over the top cartoonish extreme..McCain is worse because of his veteran status and because he is actually agreeing with parts of the bill..confuses people more as he is "seemingly" more logical (note the quotes there--he clearly has a bone to pick and remains sore loser..yet no-one is bringing that out...)

I think all the lefty bloggers should start, to the best they can, putting Gregory on the spot now about the questions to ask. Tops on the list are McCain's statement a few years back about "muddling" through in Afghanistan while we focused on Iraq, and isn't that why we now have to invest so much more in the former, and second would be his attacking the Senate HCR bill for making a fraction of the Medicare cuts that he suggested last year would be part of his HCR legislation.

Almost president douchebag, nearly as progressive as the current one (douchebag).

John McCain. Proof that zombies exist.

What puzzles me is why none of the interviewers ever press McCain to reveal his triple-super-secret absolutely-guaranteed plan to capture Osama bin Laden. Remember? The one he said he'd implement if he were president? Well, he's not president now, but doesn't he feel he owes it to his country to let President Obama in on it? Couldn't he ever be asked about that....?

Stefan hits it. During the campaign, Maverick McCain kept saying he knew how to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he wouldn't reveal his secret plans unless we elected him.

Besides NBC last night, McCain was on CBS, too. I turned from one channel to the other to get away from Big John, only to learn he was coming up shortly on the other.
The networks can't help themselves. They're like crack addicts, excepts they're jonesing for right-wing talking points.

Gee, John does seem to have an awful lot of time on his hands these days.

McCain's not waiting till Sunday -- check out his extensive schedule of TV appearances today.

The Beltway MSM, as embodied in the Sunday shows, can't go a week without one or more appearences by President McLiebergraham because a) they're in total denial about the outcome of the last election and b) they're equally in denial about how utterly insane the Republicans as a whole have become. If they put people like DeMint on every Sunday, the American public might get the idea that the Republicans aren't fit to govern or something and, heavens, we can't have that.

So how about if we boycott the sponsors of the Sunday morning gab fests? They have all been pretty worthless uses of television airwaves for well over a decade now.....Look at the makeup of the regular panelists and not just the main guest (McPain). It is so much better to settle in with the NYT crossword puzzle, the Week in Review (if F. Rich is writing), and coffee than to turn on the TV.

The Japanese have Kabuki, the Italians have Grand Opera, the Americans have John McCain.

(All three are the same performance, over and over and over. . .)

withay - a veritably spot-on description of my Sunday morns post my self-proclaimed MSM inanity blackout. Oh, and the melodious strains of Dvorak or Mahler to replace the nasal whinings of George, David et al. Highly recommended. - Katie

Well, of the nationally known Republicans available to you: the choice is John McCain or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin or Dick Cheney. If you were NBC who would you pick?

It puts the bbq sauce on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.

-- Commenter at Swampland, in a thread about the media's love for McCain

I guess all one needs to do to be considered a military expert is:

1. Finish second to last in your academy class.

2. Start a fire that injured or killed more than 100 shipmates.

3. Get shot down several times, including at least once while hotdogging it.

4. Give a statement condemning the U.S. in order to get better treatment while a POW.

5. ???

6. War hero!

7. Be handed extra-special media credibility, despite a lack of actual credibility.

The media's slobbering all over McCain is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with our discourse: substance over style, fact-free, and with no regard for what happened five minutes (or five weeks, months, or years) ago.

If they had any shame, they'd have felt it by now.

McCain still wants to be President. If he isn't dead in two years he'll run.

McCain has been described as having all his answers be pundit answers - not politician who is actually responsible for policy, answers.
This was noted when Georgia and Russia were battling in early-mid 2008. Even Bush was not saying "We are all Georgians now."

It is no surprise that MTP would rather have him
on than someone who has to be responsible.

Part of the reason he was not elected was the concern that pundit answers are all he has.

As far as I can remember, the last time I watched
ANY Sunday morning 'news' show was in late 2001 when Cheney was on re-assuring the world that someone with 'gravitas' was in charge. Slow speech fooled me then.

Why does Steve B think the whole world is watching? It's just the village watching.

Will you stop obsessing over those idiot Sunday monring "news" shows? The networks put them on so they can say they're "socially responsible" when it comes time to renew their licenses. They're crap, and the reason nobody watches them who isn't paid to do so is because everybody knows they're crap.

Biden was on 44 times before becoming VP. He had no leadership role. Big deal.

"He's not in the party leadership;"

How many times have YOU seen a majority leader or Speaker of the House on a morning show?

When I worked for TV network media relations, "Exclusive" meant that only our network had the program. But nobody has McCain "exclusively" -- he whores on EVERY streetcorner.

Could be that NBC is gambling that McCain will finally croak, and it will be on their live teevee.

i think steve keeps doing the fridaygrampagrumpyonthethesundayshowsblogging because kevin drum beat him to the fridaycatblogging. "it's deja vu all over again."

I actually think McCain is a reasonable choice here as the ranking member on the armed services committee, to talk about, well- armed services.

But, generally, yes, this guy gets way too much play. Maybe the GOP overlords at the networks are terrified of how few voters would support them if they trotted out Coburn all the time.

I watch "Sunday Morning" on CBS and then turn the shit off . There is nothing to be learned by listening to any of the political blab fests that are rarely more than regurgatated talking points (from both sides)

Because John McCain is the REAL political vapid celebrity, not Obama

To scotth - Joe Biden was chairman, and before that ranking member, of the Senate Foreign relations committee. As such, he's actually someone the media should have been talking to.

John McCain is another thing altogether. He holds no real leadership position in the Senate or the GOP. It is no so much a case of McCain being a "media whore," its that the media whores itself out to McCain.

And it has consequences - long after McCain's campaign had self-destructed in mid-2007, the media as a whole continued to treat McCain as a credible candidate and give him free air time. By propping him up thusly, they allowed him to snatch the nomination away from Romney and Huckabee. And it was more than clear that the Media favored McCain over Obama - Ayers, Rezko and Wright got 24-7 attention, while McCain's ties with Keating and Abramoff, the Forrestal fire, and his abandoned first wife all went straight down the memory hole. The media probably thinks of McCain as being their very own President-in-Exile...

Remember how often Senator Kerry was on the shows in 2005? Me neither.

McCain is to Meet the Press as Obama is to GQ

McCain mimics the Giuliani "9/11 + a verb" formula by always citing either the Gospel according to General Petraeus or McCrystal in his standard statements. His man crushes on these guys is well…..embarrassing. Psychologically, it seems pretty transparent that his worship of Generals is a sad mixture of father issues combined with constantly seeking forgiveness for being “broken” as a POW. I've never figured out how being an irresponsible, poor performing Navy pilot and then being isolated as a POW for many years enhances your expertise on strategic warfare. McCain's ability to analyze combat situations is clearly compromised. Honoring his service should not include elevating his opinions to expert status.

He's batting .340, for those in the audiance keeping score.

4. Give a statement condemning the U.S. in order to get better treatment while a POW.
5. ???
6. War hero!...
Posted by: Mark D on December 2, 2009 at 11:27 AM

This part of your comment, Mark D, is uncalled for and reprehensible.
Have YOU no shame?

There's one good reason to ask McCain over most of the other leaders of his party: sure, he's a threadbare hack with a pack of well-practiced lies and half-truths, but he can be counted on spread his b.s. like a true professional and not, unlike most of the others, make some loony tunes statement every time he opens his mouth (like Coburn, or Enzi, or McConnell, and so on and so on).

To Yinzer

"To scotth - Joe Biden was chairman, and before that ranking member, of the Senate Foreign relations committee. As such, he's actually someone the media should have been talking to."

And McCain is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Has been on it since 1987. What is your point?

"John McCain is another thing altogether. He holds no real leadership position in the Senate or the GOP."

Neither did Biden with his 44 appearances.. Again, what is your point?