source: mydd.com
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...
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...
[WM]http://www.youtube.com/v/Kj7HbqwZwRM[/WM]
