Too Much Access? McCain Campaign Reporter: "It Gets To The Point Where You Just Want Them To Shut Up Sometimes"

Via of the North Country Times, NPR correspondent Scott Horsley has some fabulous tidbits from the campaign trail, having first been assigned to Mitt Romney and then switching to John McCain of late. Here's the flipside of McCain's vaunted access:

Lately, he's been covering presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, whose campaign has been busy sapping the energy of even the most health-food-fortified reporters.

"They just hold court constantly," Horsley said. "They are an open book when it comes to their strategy, their tactics, their view of the race. It gets to the point where you just want them to shut up sometimes."

Double-edged sword, eh? He goes on:

McCain has been amazingly accessible to the press, with the exception of a few days after a supposed sex scandal broke out, Horsley said.

"You can talk to him three times a day if you want," he said. "At every event he does a news conference, and then he gets on a plane and has another news conference."

The problem for Horsley is simple: "What can I possibly ask that hasn't been asked three times today?

Other tidbits,:

• Ann Romney had to stop her husband from wandering into a beauty salon in Iowa as he was being tailed by the media. Said smart Ann: "You cannot take the TV cameras into a hair salon."

• McCain is more press friendly than not only Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but also John Kerry ("not particularly accommodating") or, in a surprise call out, George W. Bush, whom he said was "utterly contemptuous" of the press. And they still wanted to have a beer with him. Geesh.

• He characterized an Obama audience as having a "euphoric" experience, and said Clinton was impossible to stump in a marathon question-and-answer period in New Hampshire: "There was not a problem that she didn't have a four- or five-point plan for or something to say about it. She showed everybody, if they had any doubt, that she has a very solid grasp of arcane policy details."

Comments

[iPolitics]

McCain: "the media will greet us as liberators."

[ME08]

This is exactly why the press licks his ass and hates the Clintons...the preferred route is that of the Clintons: the less time you give to the parasites of the press, the better. Nothing good comes from kissing their ass.

[pbfishtaco]

Mr. Horsley could perhaps ask Mr McBush his take on the recent fed bailouts--compare and contrast with his experience with the Keating 5., and if he thinks the current recession might top the last one he was partly responsible for. Maybe over danish and coffee.

Then perhaps he could ask about his "spiritual advisor" Rod Parseley's book advocating the destruction of the religion of Islam, over a corned beef sandwich. He could ask Mr. McCain if the correspondent from al Jazeera could tag along.

In the evening, say, over a glass of scotch poured neat, during his third visit with the candidate, he might discuss his maverick status as the largest employer of lobbyists in his campaign staff.

I guess there's just not enough things to talk about on the campaign trail. Since it sounds like Mr. McCain is spry for his they could stay up late and have some yuks about how the democrats are tearing themselves to shreds!!! Ha, Ha! Good Times!

[nogop]

WHEN SOME REPORTER ASKS McNUTST ABOUT JOHN HAGEE, THE EVANGELICAL HOMOPHOBE WHO WANS TO CONVERT JEWS-THE SAME FREAK McNUTS APROVES OF AS A SURROGATE-HISCAMPAIGN WILL HIDE FROM REPORTERS!! WHEN SOMEONE ASKS McNUTS ABOUT HIS FLIP-FLOPS ON THE BUSH TAXCUTS, TORTURE,AND HIS IMMIGRATION POLICY-HE'll RUN AND HIDE!!! THE MSM HAS BEEN SUCKING AROUND THIS FREAKNG CANCER-FACE LIAR FOR TOO LONG!!! WHEN WLL THIS WACK-JOB RELEASE HIS MEDICAL RECORDS????AND HW'S THAT RECNCILIATION GOING IN IRAQ,SEN.McNUTS??????

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

We all can fell McCain pain

[ProfessorVP]

Remember when Karl Rove spread the rumors in 2000 that McCain's wife was a drug addict, he had an illegitimate black baby, he was gay, and he was off his rocker? Turns out the last one is true.

[zigzag1]

The first is true also. Cindy was hooked on Vicodin and obtained them illegally from a medical charity. The press is so enamored of McCrazy no one has pursued the story of Vicki Iseman (who?) and exactly what he did for the telecom industry she pimped for. All McCrazy had to do was get angry and the press tucked their tails between their legs and begged his forgiveness.

[ME08]

He's getting us ready for The One Hundred Years War in Iraq...

[GingerB]

Actually, McCain's wife, Cindy, WAS addicted to drugs and used to steal them from the non-profit medical cahrity she ran.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs/