And this is a good one. Apparently he was for investigations into the response to Hurricane Katrina after he had voted against them. Twice.
Does this guy have any principles? Or is he just so old that he can't remember where he left them?
Matt thinks that the media will just ignore this latest shift, and he might be right. But eventually I think the backlash will come, and when it does, I think it will actually be McCain's fault. And in an almost counter-intuitive way, I think this exchange between Chris Matthews and Tim Russert last night demonstrates why:
During MSNBC's coverage of the South Dakota and Montana primaries last night, host Chris Matthews noted how Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized the media's coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in his speech last night, saying that "Pundits and party elders have declared the Senator Obama will be my opponent." "What is his beef with the media, I'd like to know that" said Matthews, adding "I mean, after ten years of covering this guy, I have yet to see anybody lay a glove on him."
Tim Russert added, "Well, he used to call it his base."
McCain has been making this claim for some time now, and something we are almost certainly going to continue to hear from him throughout the campaign. But by doing so he's creating a very strange dynamic for the media, one that if he pushes it far enough is likely to lead to a backlash against him by the press.
Everyone knows that the media loves McCain. It's one of the worst kept secrets in DC. They like him, and so they have for many years given him a virtually free ride. And now, after all that, he's going to be so ungrateful as to complain about how he has been treated? If I were McCain, I'd be doing everything possible to keep the media man-crush alive. And trust me, complaining will do nothing but kill it. Hell hath no fury...
So keep it up, Sen. McCain, please. Invite the press to your multi-million dollar compound for a BBQ, and when they leave, call a press conference to complain about how badly they've been treating you. That's a brilliant strategy! Go on!
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