Whatever you might think of the media, it's most likely not a good idea to go out of your way to piss them off if you're running for president. So, what do former media darlings John McCain and Sarah Palin do? That's right, completely piss of the media!
Example #1: Jake Tapper of ABC News, who "two weeks ago today...asked the McCain-Palin campaign a very simple question," namely "Are McCain/Palin endorsing Sen. Stevens' re-election?" The response by the McCain-Palin campaign on September 9? "Will get back to you." Here's the rest of the story:
It has now been more than two weeks. I have re-sent the question several times. They do not want to answer the question.Combine that with the facts that Sen. McCain has gone 41 days without taking questions from the press corps following him around, and that Gov. Palin has gone every one of the 25 days since she was introduced to the nation as McCain's running-mate without holding a press conference.
It all adds up to a campaign that seems to think it should be handed over the keys to leadership of the Free World without having to answer straight-forward, substantive, tough questions from the Fourth Estate.
That's called lack of accountability.
Which begs the question if a McCain-Palin administration would even hold press conferences.
Obviously, that's totally egregious, and you'd think it couldn't get any worse. But wait, there's more! :)
Example #2: "Palin bars, then admits reporters to UN meetings" As Steve Benen writes at Washington Monthly, "What a farce."
...The McCain campaign's overbearing handlers are panicked at the notion of a candidate for national office hearing an unscripted question for which she has not been prepped. As a result, they want the benefit of the images, without the risk of embarrassment.[...]
If only she and her team had the confidence to endure a question or two, the media coverage would have worked to the campaign's advantage. But, no. McCain's team doesn't trust Palin, and can't take the risk of another embarrassment.
Someone please explain to me again, why would anyone vote for these people when they won't even answer the most basic questions, when they are so terrified of their VP pick's utter wackiness and lack of qualifications that they won't let her anywhere near the media in an unscripted setting? Totally, unbelievably lame.
According to the CNN producer who was let into Karzai's hotel suite with the photographers just before noon, Karzai was talking about his son. Palin was nodding, and asked what his name is. Karzai replied his name was Mirwais and explained that it means light of the house.The media were escorted out after about 40 seconds.
CNN should have stuck to its guns -- in fact the press should refuse to do these PR stunts altogether. No questions allowed, no photo-ops and free publicity for the campaign.
Her response:
"..."Oil and coal? Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those as opposed to the increase of prices. So, I believe there is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect that what Congress is going to do, also, is like as such not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. In other words, it's got to flow first, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, into our domestic markets it will help on the red."
Anyone care to decipher?
The original audience question was: Should we have export tariffs on domestic oil drilling?
Her answer was effectively "No". The answer was right, but her explanation was a bit evasive.
She could have just said: "The price of oil is defined by a global market. For a country that is a net energy importer, it would make no sense to add a tariff, because those export tariffs would just add to the overall cost of the product since we are ultimately importing more gas than we produce at home."
She could have added: "If we were smart about this, we would start developing a transportation economy that was not largely reliant on oil. The domestic sources that we have -- even the untapped ones -- can not meet our present and future consumption needs."
-McCain/Palin will depend upon spoon fed "Palin infomercials" similar to those 'As seen on T.V." medical nostrum ads that run on cable t.v..
- She does well with prepared text..but fumbles at live replies. They don't want her going 'off script".
She is a governor...and should be capable of "meeting the press".