John McCain has few stronger supporters than his younger brother Joe, who recently got himself into hot water when he described the fiercely contested Northern Virginia suburbs as "communist country." But that remark pales beside Joe's latest blast, in a new email to friends, that criticizes the conduct of those piloting McCain's campaign as it sails into shoals and makes a desperate plea for the campaign to change course.
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Joe is particularly critical of top campaign officials (unnamed) who "so tightly 'control the message'" that they have cut the press off from those who know the candidate best (presumably including his brother). Joe McCain, who notes that he once was a reporter and has worked in campaign press shops, calls these news-management efforts "counter-intuitive, counter-experiential, and counter-productive."