McCain On The Run: Cancels Press Availability

Marc Ambinder reports that John McCain's one press conference of the week has been abruptly canceled:

The one scheduled McCain press conference of the week has just been canceled, we are told. No word as to why. Grumble, grumble.

Why? Scheduling. Which is like answering "food" to "what did you eat for breakfast."

Ambinder offers a relatively innocuous explanation:

My bet is that the campaign much prefers local and regional interviews. Us national press folks will ask qualitatively different questions -- McCain v. the press, McCain v. history, McCain v. Obamania... The priority here in northern Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional district is on getting good local news coverage.

But Ben Smith sees more, pointing out that Obamania is the least of McCain's worries right now:

Despite the press crowd around Obama, McCain's avail today was the one with more promise to make news:

He hasn't explained what he meant by juggling the timeline on the surge and Awakening (though his staff did the best salvage job possible); whether he meant that Obama was deliberately selling out the country; whether he shares his campaign's grievance with the press; or what he thinks of his staff's genocide-themed attack.

And now he's canceled the avail.

Comments

[rewinn]

02:10 AM on 07/25/2008

C'mon, be kind!

The press looooved McCain in the primaries. He fed them doughnuts, they were his friends.

Now, they've discovered his just an incoherent wacko, who says he knows nothing about the economy and keeps making basic mistakes about foreign affairs, which is supposed to be his strong suit.

He's feeling "stood up". Cue the violins!

[keepemhonest]

09:30 AM on 07/24/2008

McCain not only does NOT know the timeline of 'the surge' he does NOT even know the definition of 'the surge.'

In the cheese isle interview in PA.:
Reporter: So, when you say surge then you're not referring to the surge President Bush initiated then you're saying it goes back several months before that?

McCain: Yes, and again because of my visits to Iraq, I was briefed by Col. McFarland in December 2006 where he outlined what was succeeding there in this counter-in­surgency strategy which we all know now as "the surge."

watch the interview: http://www­.msnbc.msn­.com/id/30­36677/#25823434

[TheIndependenceParty]

07:45 AM on 07/24/2008

This "week off" should be a wake up call to the Republican Party. This man they have selected to lead them can not walk a straght line, or even manage the stage when he has it all to himself here in America.

When a candidate decides to make himself "unavailab­le" to the press (who report to the People) then what can we expect of him were he to be elected? At this point he has become a shadow of his former self, and a pathetic figure indeed!

[lvdragonlady]

01:42 PM on 07/24/2008

Though I am not or ever have been a repub, when mac ran for office in 2000(i think) I really liked him. He had a lot of decent ideas and bucked the system enough to make him interestin­g. Now, is just another OLD man, past his time.

[CaptainVideo]

07:00 AM on 07/24/2008

We have to say the same thing about McCain that was said of Ross Perot's running mate, James Stockdale:

THAT POOR OLD MAN!

[likeicare]

05:46 AM on 07/24/2008

And the Rethuglica­ns whine about unequal press coverage.

Duhhhhhh.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

02:09 AM on 07/24/2008

A day or two off is needed for mc-lame to get his 'stories' straight. His cheese section ad-lib at the grocery was truly sad and pathetic. It reminded one of a first-grad­er making up stories for show-and-t­ell, complete with circular illogic and no ending, trying his darndest to make everyone think he actually knew what he was talking about.

[Egalitare]

05:16 AM on 07/24/2008

I don't know if a day or two will fix this. McCain had a "campaign reorganiza­tion" a few weeks back - his 3rd one since starting this candidacy, and yet nothing seems to have changed significan­tly with regard to message focus or campaign tactics that I can see -- other than adopting the previously seen "kitchen sink" strategy.

It cannot be encouragin­g for his supporters or those looking for a reason to support him that his campaign appears to be careening like a driver who would register a .30 BAC. And if you buy into the idea that they assume that McCain living and breathing on Election Day "wins by default," then why allow him to appear less than "supremely Presidenti­al" and allowing potential voters to entertain 2nd thoughts?

McCain has a history of being a "sloppy" candidate, even in his successful Senate campaigns. And it was assumed that Bush's natural advantages of fundraisin­g and early favorite status doomed McCain from the start of the 2000 race. You expect some lessons were taken to heart along the way, but maybe it wasn't.

Or maybe "winning by default" was ALWAYS the plan.

[jayjaga]

01:04 AM on 07/24/2008

I remember one old republican during the early part of the GOP primaries warned about allowing McBush to be the GOP nominee. Hear him, " MCain is not a good general election material".

Now the chickens are coming home to roost as the probabilit­y of an implosion within McBush's campaign looms large.

[LTinCali]

01:53 AM on 07/24/2008

What truly concerns me is that I cannot tell if he is deliberate­ly lying or he is suffering from memory loss. Either way, this is no way for a President to act.

Also, he and his campaign compounded the lie with more lies. This again is very concerning and if I were a foreign leader, I would be looking at this man very closely and thinking that he is not someone that I would want to negotiate with, he will just lie to get what he wants.

McCain really needs to take a week off not a weekend and recharge, revamp his campaign staff and start over before the convention­, but then again, at the rate he is going, Obama will be president in a clear landslide.

[ebanks84]

12:46 AM on 07/24/2008

This man needs to run all the way back to Arizona or wherever he comes from and don't stop at go. His response today to the "SURGE" word had my head spinning. What the heck did he say?

There was a pre-surge before the actual surge and he was speaking of the pre-surge but the actual surge still worked. WHATEVER! I hope the mastermind (Rove) isn't behind this blabbering man because he's absolutely lost in the SURGE!

THE SURGE IS THE WORD AND THE WORD IS THE SURGE! danananana dananana..­..........­..!

[jwatso7]

12:34 AM on 07/24/2008

I'm not sure I understand what McCain is so afraid of. Maybe it's because I'm viewing the news through the biased filter of being an Obama supporter, but take for example tonight's ABC World News Tonight. Gibson's interview with Obama was quite challening­. He interrupte­d him 3 times because he didn't like the answer he was getting, and he kept pushing the point. A few minutes later, David Wright interviewe­d McCain. Although he asked some good questions to McCain, I just didn't feel like it had the same sense of challenge as the interview with Obama.

This is the sense I've gotten from every major news organizati­on and every interview I've seen with Obama and McCain. Heck - I didn't even hear anything today about the gaff McCain made on CBS. If Obama had done that it would have been everywhere­.

So I don't know what Johnny's afraid of. He seems to be getting a pretty smooth ride from the national media.

[ebanks84]

12:48 AM on 07/24/2008

All rethugs do! They own the media.

[Darnamell]

10:12 AM on 07/24/2008

And Couric at CBS is essentiall­y covering up for McSame. She might as well be on his payroll.

If THIS can't put the lie to the "liberal media" meme, what will?

[OldKnute]

11:43 PM on 07/23/2008

I’am very sad for McCain,, who I feel is a great man of courage and principle.

Bush went to Luxemburg to beg for more money, to keep the economy afloat, the banks. Too little, too late.

The ultimate collapse of the failed, RICH only, policies, guns and butter, war footing, greed based drive, of the last 8 years, has come full circle. Had Bush won his huge infusions of cash, just 10 additional months, McCain most probably would be our next President. Bush failed. The cash was not forthcomin­g.

Had it been, the well OILED spin machine of Karl Rove could have blamed it all on the Democratic Congress.

Sadly, Bush was rebuffed, private funded Euros would NEVER be enough or coming.

Sadly, now McCain will pay the ultimate price for the Neo-Con blunders, tissue paper mortgages, war spending and deficits.

McCain mysterious­ly bounced back from near primary race oblivion. The truth, he was pushed,,,, right to the edge of a cliff he now toes. SAD!

Obama Mainia is real! It is everywhere­, even in Jerusalem. His seeming lack of experience­, is an asset for change, his character taking center stage. As Obama grows and develops, so will America. He may not be the greatest America we've seen come election day, YET, but over the next 4 years, 4 TOUGH, HARD YEARS, he will become all that we teach him to be and give him the opportunit­y to fulfill.

An American President.

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB

[kcam44]

12:05 AM on 07/24/2008

Yep, he challenged Obama on this Middle Eastern trip thinking and hoping that he would fail..unfo­rtunately for McCain, Obama has risen and the McCain camp just doesn't know what to do. You almost feel sorry for McCain.

[jwatso7]

12:34 AM on 07/24/2008

I agree with everything you wrote, up to the point of feeling sorry for him. He made his bed . . .

[NochlessMonster]

12:32 AM on 07/24/2008

You almost lost me with your feeling sorry for his maverickne­ss.... however...­.... Our Senator Bada$$ is more presidenti­al than any president I have seen since Carter honestly..­.... I missed JFK by a few years.... but I hear O stirs those like he did.......­....

I really truly feel our country has a chance again... to do what is right by not only the people of this nation... but by our laws.... our Constituti­on and the world.....­.....

[OldKnute]

01:59 AM on 07/24/2008

Notchless, it is the evil and hate that now stirs my sympathy for McCain. I lived through the Nixon/McCa­rthy era, where children called police on their parents, wire-taps were common, teachers were fired for teaching, historical­ly, any references to Marx.

Nixon lost in 1960, but infected this Neo-Con crew, with all his hubris, arrogance and fanatical belief in war, the arms race, supremacy at any cost.

Supremacy, at the cost of our very soul, as a people, a nation of faith and our love and hope for humanity. A time of horror in America, neighbor against neighbor, all suspicious of the other, FEAR ruled America.

Then came a light. As a child, at the airport I clung to the fence by the tarmac. There, in the doorway, stood a man, John F. Kennedy and HOPE lit his face. The fears fell away, shed like a snakes skin, dry, needles and spent. A new generation clung to his every word, and he was loved.

It is never just the man that is right, it is the time too, and the pain of the people. A Time; when we see the harms of our past and know the evil that drives some among us.

I am old, nearly blind and walk with great difficulty­. Pain is my constant companion, BUT all that pales in comparison to the joys that fills my heart now. I have lived long enough to see that LIGHT again.

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB.

[pecoes]

11:35 PM on 07/23/2008

After a week of trying to steal Obama's headlight with extremely questionab­le statements­, he's now decided not to take questions. That's almost clever. Obvious. Despicable­. But almost clever.

[NochlessMonster]

11:44 PM on 07/23/2008

It was the second wish of his Monkey Paw wishes....­..... I can not wait until what comes next......­..

[kellygrrrl]

11:57 PM on 07/23/2008

same here ... how long will the reprogramm­ing take?

I want more GAFFE -- I'm hooked

[CocteausTwin]

12:29 AM on 07/24/2008

(If I made any reference to my former self, i do not recall. I mention all my comments were scrubbed and yet I was not banned. The other moniker I have held here was DreamConju­ror, and that was wiped in a software glitch, though my comments still remain in that profile)

Maybe his third and final Monkey Paw wish will be -- "I wish the press would get me".

It is tough to word a wish correctly.

[ChiGuy]

11:26 PM on 07/23/2008

What else would one expect from "Gaffe A Minute J-ohnny"?

[BWonka]

10:54 PM on 07/23/2008

Mc Bu$h just need more time to prepare next weeks series of gaffes and screw-ups. Or else he is out BEGGING for somwone other than Mutt to be his slow-walki­ng mate.

[kellygrrrl]

11:40 PM on 07/23/2008

CindyLou just needs to hand out a few more Party Favors to the Press

[Chillinout]

10:45 PM on 07/23/2008

HuffPo likes me again! WooHoo!

[Kalima]

10:54 PM on 07/23/2008

Ok, now what about me?
:(

[BWonka]

10:55 PM on 07/23/2008

WE like you - don't worry about huffpo.

[CocteausTwin]

10:57 PM on 07/23/2008

Well at least the people who visit HP like you. Hope all is well and that you are enjoying O's field trip as much as many of us are. He is someone who truly represents our country.

[Chillinout]

11:03 PM on 07/23/2008

These last two comments didn't even go through moderation­, they posted instantly.

I guess they are trying to make up to me.. :-)

[Chillinout]

10:40 PM on 07/23/2008

okay lets give this a try