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Look – obviously I was kidding. I haven’t been a friend to the McCain campaign, and I understand the campaign excluding me from their little blogger shindigs. The fact that the snubs are bringing back painful memories from high school that I thought I had put behind me comes as something of a surprise. I wonder if I still have Dr. Rosenheifen’s number in my rolodex.
Of course the preceding, like yesterday’s post, was a joke. I’m a little surprised that judging by our comment boards and a few blog posts out there on the Internets that the McCainiacs have turned out to be as humor-impaired as sanctimonious lefties. But there you go.
There is, however, a serious point somewhere in here. One of McCain’s liabilities the past few years has been his tendency to cozy up exclusively to “friendlies” in the media. I think this habit caused his “fighting back” muscles to atrophy, and is one of the main reasons why his campaign hasn’t excelled at bailing since it began taking on water. McCain’s minions created an echo chamber so sound proof, they thought their guy was the frontrunner even when he was trailing Rudy by 15 points. I guess when your supporters are telling you you’re a latter-day Abraham Lincoln, it’s awfully tempting to believe such stuff and discount the views of those who differ.
In other words, the McCain campaign would do well to reach out to people who haven’t pre-qualified themselves as cheerleaders. After all, even though I’m clearly not on McCain’s side in the fight for the nomination, I will most definitely be with him if he is the Republican nominee. That’s a lot more than can be said for anyone working for the New York Times, CNN or CBS News.
Last night, I exchanged emails with a McCain staffer who asked me in so many words, “Why would you want to attend a conference call with John McCain?” The short answer was, “Why wouldn’t anyone want to take advantage of the opportunity to get to know one of the seven or so people who might be our next president a little better?”
Besides, given the background here, they can be pretty certain I’ll be on my best behavior. In other words, I probably won’t ask any of the questions regarding Radical Islam reading lists that I’ve become notorious for in Republican circles.
When Lou Dobbs or Katie Couric moderates a debate, they’ll have no such assurances of good conduct.
Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com
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