Politico's Roger Simon Rewrites Own History To Fluff McCain

It's not news that much of the corporate Washington press corps feels a burning love for John McCain. But it's still enjoyable to see the lengths to which they'll go for their political cuddlebunny. Take Roger Simon, chief political columnist for the Politico. Simon isn't just willing to rewrite history on McCain's behalf; he's willing to rewrite history he himself wrote.

In 1999 Simon was working for US News & World Report, for whom he produced a long, mostly glowing piece about McCain's first campaign for president. Here Simon explains why the press was smitten with McCain:

At 63, one of the oldest candidates in the race, he is a bundle of energy, powering through as many as eight speeches a day. Except when he sleeps, he is virtually never silent...It may be a high-risk way to run, but his whole campaign is high risk. "I decided that the planets were aligned and I had a shot at it," he says. "Not a very good shot, but a shot. I'm not going to be driven by a fear of losing. I'm going to have fun and enjoy it because I'll never do this again."

Obviously McCain did run again, but at the beginning of 2007 even his prospects of getting the Republican nomination looked uncertain. And so Simon wrote a bizarre, moony article imagining how McCain could still become the 44th president: with another campaign "about authenticity." In the new piece Simon reused almost all his McCain quotes from 1999, including the above section. Simon did, however, make one small change. See if you can spot it:

[McCain] would run again because he had faced that terrible dread that kept many from ever running: the humiliation of defeat. "I'm not going to be driven by a fear of losing," McCain told his staff. "I'm going to have fun."

There are so many funny things about this that you have to make a list.

1. It's funny that McCain, in order to explain how he was able to be so damn honest, said something that turned out not to be true.

2. It's even funnier that, in order to explain why honest John McCain was running again, Simon quietly excised that McCain had said to Simon that he wouldn't.

3. It's funniest of all that, in the original 1999 article, Simon had reported that journalists loved McCain so much that at one point on the Straight Talk Express a reporter "begged McCain to shut up and protect himself." But apparently this isn't necessary; McCain can say anything, and reporters will retroactively have him un-say it. (It's also odd that this reporter goes unidentified. It's hard not to wonder whether this is because his name was Roger Simon. In any case, it's an interesting example of press corps omerta, in which they rigorously eliminate any information their audience could actually use.)

Still, don't think for a minute Simon isn't deeply concerned about the way reporters tend to suck up to the powerful. As he recently wrote:

It is not surprising that so many politicians have such a low opinion of the media; we make it so easy for them to do so.

And why was Simon so unhappy with his colleagues? For the most obvious reason imaginable: because the media has given Barack Obama a free pass on Jeremiah Wright.

Cross-posted from Tiny Revolution

Comments

[RRonin]

I can't get over the headline that accompanies this post. I assume it can be attributed to an editor at HufPo. Simon "fluff's" McCain? In the X-rated movie industry, a "fluffer" is a "specialist" who "preps" the male porn star for his performance. Kinda like a pitcher warming up in the bullpen. Well, if the shoe fits......­.

[Bobrobert]

Look at history.

Lots of suck ups in the media.

Kick them while they are down so they don't get up.

People have access to other information today - the media has lost the ability to destroy someone.

Facts are such a sore point for the media.

Republicans have the media wrapped up - people no longer trust the media at all.

The media gave us Iraq. The media gave us our economy. Silly media - people know and will not follow you blindly any more.

The media that is ANTI-religion tried to give us a pastor to prove Obama not fit to lead. The people don't care what someone's pastor said - most don't even support their local churches. Half the people have no idea what their pastor said when they go to church much less care about what someone elses pastor says.

:-)

Obama 08 -

Don't forget to vote folks.

[austinobserver]

Very good point. The mainstream corporate media is constantly disrespectful of religion and religious organizations and treats them as unimportant nuisances but then turns a 180 and takes a preacher's statements seriously when they are useful to put down Obama.

Anyone who is not a hopeless simpleton should be able to see that the corporate media has thousands of possible stories and angles it could cover and it makes its selections not just for ratings but also to choose the candidates most in line with the interests of the owners of the media. The stories and angles it selects have always influenced or even determined the outcome. We can only hope that the new media is bringing that period to a close.

[billydog]

Who's this Rev Wright guy? I've never heard of him. Maybe I don't read enough. Thing is I don't get
newspapers up here in my cave in the winter.

[GrainOSand]

Meet the new media, the same as the old media, running the gamut from highly professional to lowly and objectionable and every possibility in between.

[lboucher]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4STLISLdxi4

Obama: Hold on one second 'sweetie'

Let me eat my waffle.

[knighthowl]

And this is objectionable how?

[trishinpitt]

This "sweetie" comment reminds me of my husband who calls most women he meets "Ma'am". He said it was how he was raised and it was supposed to be a sign of respect. But so many women get mad at him when he says it, he said to me, "Would they rather I call them "B*tch???"

What was Obama supposed to say? I'm fairly certain he didn't know her name so I'm pretty sure if he had called her Ma'am or hadn't addressed her at all she would have been mad about that too. He came off sounding amiable and courteous and she comes off sounding unprofessi­onal.... way to go Sweetie!

[RRonin]

She probably reminded him of his daughters.

[hughbetcha]

Dude, have you listened to Keith Olbermann lately? What about Chris Matthews? Have you read the New York Times? The Huffington Post? Have you ever seen any get so huge a pass or been treated so much as a `cuddlebunny' than the Golden Boy himself - Barack Obama??? Please, find an argument you can win.

[knighthowl]

Dude, have you listented to O'Reilly (of course you have) lately, or Shawn or even Greta? You truly think 24/7 coverage of Wright and "bitter" is treatment as a cuddlebunny? Please find an argument you can win or give us the address of your alternative universe.

[daddysboy]

A list of media outlets that isn't cherry-picked might also include all the other more prominent loud-mouthed pundits, the Washington Post, the countless other blogs on the internet, and just about every local newspaper and radio station. The four sources of information you cited hardly constitutes any summary of the "mainstream media"; in fact, a large number of the American electorate hasn't even heard of these sources and are quite happy to believe everything that the news corporation says.

[xenofile]

Don't forget: Simon first earned notoriety as a writer of fiction.

[JulieSA]

That's Roger L. Simon. Different guy.

[xenofile]

Thank you, Julie! I've had them confused for years!

[Javalation]

McCain has promised to appoint ultraconservatives to the SCOTUS like Scalia who said on 60 minutes that the Constitution provided the right to protection from torture as punishment, but not if the authorities are seeking information. One can also expect further intrusions into the right of privacy as well as another effort to overturn Roe.

His position on what he wants to do to the Supreme Court is enough of a reason to oppose his bid. Vote for whoever the Democrats select.

[altohone]

Politico is the corporate media's attempt at relevance.

The websites of the established media sucked so bad and were losing out to newcomers they had to change their name like Diebold.

I actually like some of their folks, but don't trust their coverage at all.
Different strings... same puppetmasters.

[Swampfish]

altohone said:

Politico is the corporate media's attempt at relevance.


*******Well said.And take note of MSNBC's David Gregory's show being simulcasted on Rachel Maddow's Air America radio show.Folks just look at anything & everything with "Corporate" in it with high skepticism­.They will try all the tricks in the world to bring you their corporate BS.

[fightorleave2]

I read the link on Simon's assertion that the press gave Barack a pass on Wright. Notwithstanding the entire inaccuracy of such a statement and the lie that it is, Simon is either a hack or a shill or worse. What an ignoramus. What a sad excuse for a journalist and a person or should I say neo-republicon

[95flhtcu]

HuffPost's Pick

This sums it up.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE96K01YO24

'THE PRESS IS YOUR BASE"

[PioneerKing]

Or as Chuck Todd likes to say about McCain "he can make mistakes and say anything because he has plenty in the bank with the main stream media."

The MSM should be ashamed for pimping the McCain myth - the MSM sold America on one good old boy (G.W.Bush) and look where it has gotten us. McCain is so addlepated he makes G.W.Bush look like a mensa heavyweight.

[marc1antony]

it would be funny if it wasn't so TRUE.

[Trittydi]

I remember when Roger Simon was a relatively decent human being. That was such a long time ago.
*

[hartkid]

fix your headline. I can reWRITE it for you if need be.

[lynnn]

Politico=F­luffernate­ur politics.

[skip4Obama]

Roger Simon, Ben Smith, et el from politico are so used to spin and their own agendas...­.I don't go to their site any loonger and discount their views and opinions. Thanks for pointing this glaring use of their spin machine over at politico.com....Good Job!