Andrea Mitchell Compares McCain Press Treatment To North Korea, Syria

Tonight on the Rachel Maddow Show, NBC's Andrea Mitchell drew a line between the McCain campaign's unprecedented avoidance of the press and the restrictive practices in countries like North Korea and Syria.

Maddow recounted how McCain officials had refused to allow editorial reporters into meetings with Sarah Palin and foreign leaders today, and asked whether press access to such events was standard practice.

"It is standard practice," Mitchell responded. "It's standard for the White House, for the State Department. And often we are in foreign countries where it is not standard practice, like in Pyongyang or in Damascus, and usually the State Department insists upon it and then we are at risk for whatever happens. ... But that's not by by American officials and certainly not by Republican campaign officials running a national election here in the United States."

Comments

[sleek]

McCain has ruined himself.

At this point, with all his lies, hypocrisy and fraud he could NEVER be an effective President. He has ZERO CREDIBILITY. If you can believe it, he has even less credibility than Bush.

[yhgtup]

Why haven't female Dem surrogates been on the news circuit talking about this? How come they haven't been talking about McShiggity's record of non-support on female & children's issues? Seems like a perfect time to bring up the Keating Five. Palin's target base (Walmart soccer moms) need to know these things. I think Barack would gain a few more votes if these facts were presented in national ads so low-info voters could see.

[longislandlol]

Gotta reach that Walmart mom whose wages macpal will keep down-- and listen up walmart moms-- you can't stay home and bill your govt, to work out of your house----go for barack---or for many generations will your families be in Iraq

[sleek]

The McCain campaign is using Palin as nothing more than a cheerleader and prop - arm candy for McCain. Women should be OUTRAGED that McCain won't let her off his leash.

Shocking and abysmal behavior on McCain's part.

[DebbieinPhx]

Did you see Campbell Brown's tirade about how sexist the McCain campaign has been towards Sara Palin???? It was BRILLIANT!

[JJ30]

I wonder what the Republicans think of this facade.

[HowietheScreamer]

Most think it's all ok. But they'd vote for a steaming pile of dog doo if it had an R after it's name. However there's signs that the R is now a red letter. Here in WA our aspiring Governor wanna be Dino Rossi wants to be labled as "GOP" rather than Republican on the ballot. Seems that Republican has become a dirty word, and Dino knows it. LOL.

[neem]

Palin could be President four months from now (January 24). She is almost a total unknown. Even Christian conservatives may be very surprised by some of her views. Nobody knows what they are! McCain probably doesn't know that much about her. Apparently, Palin's only job is to keep the Hillary die-hards from going to the polls on November 4, while the "Republican base" stands in line to vote for her. After that, McCain couldn't care less what happens to the country.

[JamieJay]

The McCain Campaign only wants Sarah Palin to be "EYE CANDY", and nothing more. You know it has to be bothering the campaign that McCain isn't drawing the crowds like is VP pick. LOL! We wonder if McCain is now regretting his VP pick.

[kiran888]

if all the McCain Camp wanted was eye candy they should have used Cindy Mccain as the VP since Palin isn't that great looking as Cindy. The whole lot of GOPS are idiots anyways.

[HowietheScreamer]

Barefoot and Pregnant... how ironic eh?

[henrythefifth]

The Palin/McCain campaign has calculated it this way:

The crappy press they get from not speaking to the media is better than the outright $hit!y press they would get by speaking to the media and revealing that neither Palin nor McCain knows much about anything at all.

[childofdalight]

http://slackeruprising.com/download/location.php?utm_medium=download&utm_source=31712416

[Ulysse]

All hail for the McCain dictatorship!

Democracy = Democrats
Republic = Banana Republicans

It would be time for a real democracy in America. Pakistan has a better democracy than the USA, they got rid of their no-good president them instead of keeping him like USA has done with Bush.

[Kwaayesnama]

I have a problem with GOP lies. They look us in the eye and tell us something without blinking and we the people fall in line.

1. We have to send our sons and daughters to die looking for weapons of mass destruction.
2. Sedam Hussein was responsible for 9-11.
3. Iraqi oil will pay for the war.
4. Mission accomplished.
5. Our economy is basically strong.
6. We are fundamentally better off during the bush administration.
7. John McCain's campaign statement that he is not able to use a computer because of his suffering as a prisoner of war. Now here is my problem with that scenario.

a. On July 13, 2008 in a New York Times interview john McCain said:
“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/us/politics/13mccain.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1222265530-/ZNysS+adS5fFovaDYxncg#

b. On the Rachel Ray program John McCain whipped up a nice batch of ribs. I would like a medical opinion on what different muscles are used to barbecue ribs that you would have to use on a keyboard.

Now look in their eyes – don't blink – and say “Stop lying to us?”

[JamieJay]

John McCain "is" a master chef when it comes to ribs, but also a master "liar" when it comes to everything else. Although he has limited mobility on raising his arms, he still has a firm hand shake and shouldn't have any reason not to use a computer. By the way, his arm mobility was strong enough to lift his left hand to attempt to smack Jane Gaylor, after those Vietnam POW hearings. He instead gave her a dirty look and then pushed her away in her wheelchair(equipped with oxygen tank). This McCain anger episoded was witnessed by many on Capitol Hill.

[rj610]

Good points Kwaayenama but i think you're missing one of the biggest lies so far in the campaign:

Sarah Palin is fully qualified to be president--take our word for it because you'll not hear anything from her other than her ability to sell a plane, fire a chef (because she's not at the governor's mansion 80% of time anyway) , say no thanks to a bridge (after congress said she couldn't have it), oh and on a clear day at just the right angle you can see russia from her state (but i think you have to stand on your tiptoes).

[Techboy308]

People keep saying she fired a chef. My understanding of it is that she gave her a new job title and she continued to cook.

[booker52]

All this says about Gov Palin and the way she is being handled by the McCain camp is that she isn't ready for the VP slot and wasn't ready when they picked her. Doesn't say much for McCain's judgement now does it???

[Buj]

Exactly the question that should be asked of the McP campaign by the MSM. Why? What is there to hide?

[laocoon]

Judgment?? I would say it goes to his sincerity. He campaigned on obama not being ready to lead then he picks someone not ready to even face the press.

[Ron1951]

Andrea Mitchell is right on with her comments. Kim Jong-iL would be proud of Schmidt/Rove and their attempt to control the news, because by controlling the news you can control what people think. Scary thought that our "Country First" candidate does not honor freedom of the press or freedom of thought.

Yesterday the press found some backbone and finally had enough of this treatment. C'mon press! Keep it up. Campbell Brown decried the sexist behavior of the Bush 44 campaign in protecting the fragile little flower, Cheney 2, from the big bad press.

Let's go Press! Now that you have found your backbone, let's see more articles about how Schmidt/Rove et al are blocking information from getting to the American public. Lambasting the NYT. Essentially taking over the government of Alaska. Igoring Rule of Law. Ignoring the Constitution.

Scary, isn't it, that the polls show this election to be so close. I guess the tactic is working. With the local newspapers just shadows of their former selves due to financially caused cutbacks, the news has been controlled by these totalitarians.

[SantaFeStars]

Right on, Andrea! I understand Kissinger was briefing her yesterday on foreign policy! Can you believe, a little time with Henry and she's ready to GO!!

[lamar]

Personally I'm relieved the press is finally getting angry. What took you so long? Maybe now we'll get some coverage that is clear, informative, and pertinent to the issues at hand instead of this popularity contest you've been reporting on. It's time to speak the truth. Take a deep breath, you can do it. Yes, the Republican machine will have you chastised for your audacity, but come on....who hasn't been criticized before? You can take it. Be real reporters instead of little puppets that have other people's words coming out of their mouths..And if you can't get it printed, then write about that. But, please do your job and find a way to inform people about what's really happening.

[thepurpleocean]

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It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, excerpts and links to hundreds of articles, including many from papers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage, including her telling the 2008 convention of the Alaska Independence Party, whose goal is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S. to “keep up the good work.”

The level of research is unparalleled. The site’s editors include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Christian Science Monitor’s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association. Check it out here -

http://dailysource.org/

Please spread the word about this Palin info to anyone who might want to know more.