MyDD :: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter

McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter

by Todd Beeton, Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:17:04 PM EST

John McCain snapped at New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller today on his press plane when she asked him about whether or not he'd actually had a conversation with John Kerry in 2004 about being his VP.

First some background, First Read has this report from a campaign event earlier in the day:

McCain answered in Atlanta that his and Kerry's political views are too different. "I just totally disagree with them," McCain said. "He is a liberal Democrat... I am a conservative Republican. When we had that conversation in 2004, that's why I never even considered such a thing."

Which is what inspired Elisabeth Bumiller to ask McCain about the conversation with Kerry. This is how the exchange on his press plane today went:

"Senator, can I ask you about Senator Kerry. I just went back and looked at our story, the Times story, and you told Sheryl Stolberg that you had never had a conversation with Kerry about being about vice president..."

McCain testily replied, "Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that. That I had a conversation. There's no living American in Washington -- that knows that, there's no one."

Bumiller: "Okay."

McCain: "And you know it, too. You know it. So, I don't even know why you ask."

Bumiller: "Well, I ask because I just read..."

McCain: "You do know it. You do know it."

Bumiller: "Because I just read in the Times in May of '04 you said...."

McCain: "I don't know what you may have read or heard of, I don't know the circumstances. Maybe in May of '04 I hadn't had the conversation..."

The article Bumiller was referring to is HERE (h/t TPM). The pertinent passage:

Asked if Senator Kerry had made such an offer, Mr. McCain said no without hesitation. But asked if the two men had ever discussed it, even casually, he paused for a moment.

"No," he said finally. "We really haven't."

This is great stuff. McCain's outburst both fuels a new "McCain as hothead" narrative that he's successfully avoided throughout this campaign thus far and reveals McCain to be, well, a liar, puncturing that whole "straight talk" aura he still unbelievably has among the press. And hey, if anything has the potential to turn the press against him, it's yelling at one of their own. Something tells me McCain's getting a stern talking to right about now. Remember Senator, we have these things called video and the Internet now...

Watch it:

Tags: 2008 presidential election, john mccain (all tags)

Permalink :: 18 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

He is a cranky old grandpa. Everyone knows that. He probably needed a nap. Expect more to come.

by JustJennifer on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:18:26 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

"Shame on you" Clinton and McCain have crossed the hothead threshold. Obama, he's just got a speech.

by rfahey22 on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:18:41 PM EST

THANK GOD (none / 0)

I was reading the transcript and was worried that it wasn't on tape.

by highgrade on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:22:58 PM EST

nice touch (none / 0)

she called it an "incident"

by highgrade on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:23:37 PM EST

McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

I want an immediate time-out for all three of the presidential candidates. They should brush their teeth, put on their pajamas, drink some cocoa and go to bed. All of them (and I am a pod for Obama) need some sleep and perspective.

by NYWoman on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:27:30 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

For sure. I traveled for 2 days this week and my mood has certainly soured because of it. I can't imagine what these people are going through mentally, physically and emotionally.

by Dari on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:30:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

If people think this is McCain being a hothead just wait until the stories about how he treated his colleagues in the Senate surface. Seriously, that is a very restrained and focused McCain. That is him with the voice in his head saying: "Don't curse. Don't raise your voice. Don't stomp".

We need to use his explosive temperment factor judiciously.

Some ground rules I would use if I was running the Democratic presidential campaign (thank goodness I am not as I have the reverse Midas Touch!)

*No known representative of the campaign should ever bring up the issue. They should stick with McCain is not qualified as commander in chief because his policies are awful (100 years, Iran, etc.)
*Unaffiliated supporters should at every turn do what they can to provoke the all-but-inevitable McCain outburst by attending his speeches, letting comments drop in media interviews. The Clinton or Obama campaign obviously should be more circumspect ("Sen. Clinton do you agree with Dem. X that McCain is too unstable to be President? Well, I don't know anything about that. You will have to ask X why they think McCain is too hotheaded to be an effective president").
*We should find some Vietnam Vets who have some vague recollection of sharing the same square mile with McCain to state that he was not all that much on the battlefield because he was so gung-ho and hotheaded that he undermined the mission...OK just kidding.

"We live entangled in webs of endless deceit, often self-deceit, but with a little honest effort, it is possible to extricate ourselves from them". -- NC

by Trond Jacobsen on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:37:01 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

McCain may feel that a YouTube video of him berating an NYT reporter can only help him with the yahoos.

by Bob H on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:39:22 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

That's great. The really funny part is that Elisabeth Bumiller is one of the all-time great fluffers in the press. Bush is shredding the Constitution and she writes articles about what songs he has on his iPod. That's the kind of journalist she is.

So if you can't even be pleasant to someone like that... well, you do kind of wonder about how McCain manages to have a love affair with the press.

"Another problem we have...is that in election years we behave somewhat as primitive peoples do at the time of the full moon." --Harry Truman

by Steve M on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:41:40 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (2.00 / 0)

This is "flipping out"? Other than giving Fox a chance to needle him (not that they need any excuses), this isn't going to create any news.

I don't doubt for a minute that McCain has a terrible temper, and I'm sure if he truly showed it, it would help our side a lot. But this ain't that...

by fsm on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:43:04 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

I'm inclined to agree. This isn't rage; it's petulant defensiveness and it means there is a story here that embarrasses him.

by JoeFelice on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 04:14:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Someone with video editing experience (none / 0)

Needs to make a McCain spoof of the 3am/red phone ad. Preferrably where he ends up pressing the button in a fit of rage and it ends with the "Dr. Strangelove" montage of nuclear detonations.

by highgrade on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:45:15 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

He didn't so much seem angry as a little bit crazed. What was all that "you know this" or "you know that" etc. Why would he assume this particular reporter knew this before she asked about it? Why does it matter? Wouldn't it have been easier to just answer the question and move on? Definitely makes him seem a bit on the crazy side.

by bruh21 on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:49:03 PM EST

McCain's weakness (none / 0)

McCain's weakness in the General isn't his character. This is a mistake.

His weakness is the same as Hillary's: there is a significant fixed percentage of people the respective parties that will never vote for the candidate. Ever. Ever.

There are GOP that will slide under a gas truck and taste their own blood before they vote for Walnuts.

The reason isn't his character its his willingness to cross the aisle and make deals. Take chances.

I agree with Tom Daschle. I think McCain's career has been about taking chances and I am not too impressed with the attacks on him; I believe there will be a finite - mark well I said the word finite - chance that the debate in the general will have depth and be worth actually tuning into.

If you want to go negative, take a page from Karl Rove. His failed policies and techniques always
delivered division and the signal to noise ratio always dropped when he was in there. He'd be excited to hear that someone is picking apart comments like McCain's, because he failed to graduate from college and spent all his time working for George Bush creating an environment in which comments like this feed a 24 hour news cycle but mask the real issues and keep the voters disinformed or uninformed.

But then again, he's fat also.

by Trey Rentz on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 03:54:07 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

full video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj7HbqwZw RM

funny when she asks "Why are you so angry?" but he doesn't hear her.

by supsupsup on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 04:00:32 PM EST

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

People, people, come back to reality. I'm no McCain fan at all, repeat at all, but if this is John loosing his mind then my wife must be a mass murderer. Does anyone here have a spouse, a boss, kids, neighbors, ever call your cable company, or BofA or Citibank? I've gotten more attitude by just asking for directions. He's a bit annoyed and that's all. There are no headlines here. I don't know why every blog I follow has this as a page 1 item.

by BSelznick on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 04:13:17 PM EST

you're missing the point (none / 0)

Since when does the media have to report an "incident" truthfully? All that matters is that the media is now reporting that there was an argument between McCain and a female reporter over the issue of whether or not he was planning on running as VP under the candidate that GOPers thought was a traitor to his country.

All of the buzz words are here. People are going to say he was "testy" or "short tempered", and that he was overbearing to the poor defenseless female journalist. The wingnuts are going to be reminded of his duplicity, and we're probably going to get more investigation into how far these discussions really went.

by highgrade on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 04:33:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: McCain Flips Out On New York Times Reporter (none / 0)

He did not flip out. May God. This is nothing compared to what we have seen of him in the past. This is a non-story. Seriously people, I know you want to win, but please, get a hold of your perspectives.

Restore America's Strength.

by RJEvans on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 05:01:01 PM EST

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