McCain-Letterman this week: reading the TV tea leaves
Republican presidential nominee John McCain will be a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman Thursday night -- some three weeks after incurring Letterman's wrath with a last-minute cancellation, CBS announced Sunday.
Beyond the surpise it has generated in some quarters that the two would ever get back together again after the way Letterman publicly unloaded on McCain, the move also begs the question whether it signals a shift in McCain's media strategy.
After allowing himself to be put in the uncharacteristic position of treating the mainstream media like an enemy since the GOP convention, McCain hit a low last week when he and running mate Sarah Palin sat down for an interview with the Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, who led the pair through 20 minutes of character assasination against Democratic candidate Barack Obama. The conversation was filled with the kind of dark innuendo and smears not seen since the Red-baiting days of Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s -- and McCain was party to it.
But within 24 hours of that interview and some harsh reaction to Hannity's tactics, McCain did an about-face on the campaign trail and tried in two instances to put a stop to such smears of his opponent by audience members at his rallies.
The question is whether the return to Letterman, a show on which McCain announced his candidacy, is a return to the mainstream away from the darker, more extreme edges of the conservative wing of the Republican party as typified by Hannity.
Thursday's appearance will be McCain's 13th visit to Letterman's show. It will also mark his first appearance since the Republican National Convention at which Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin became his running mate, and the strategy began of attacking the mainstream media and limiting the candidates' exposure to it -- a strategy that has not gone well for McCain.
Comments
The goverment is going to screw this up as it normally does. I'm a small business owner and a father of 5. This isn't going to help me directly.
I didn't lie to my mortgage company and tke more money than I could afford, why should get Screwed.
http://www.sheangels.com
Posted by: guest | October 12, 2008 11:33 PM
Obviously, John McCain's recent television escapades are not looking good for him. Anyone who judges a candidate by their media performance will want Obama.
Posted by: Alex | October 13, 2008 11:34 AM
Unfortunately, I will be in bed by the time McCain appears on Letterman and since I don't have tivo I'll just have to wait for the cliip on the Today Show. Actually, its fortunate that I'll be asleep because if I had to hear that hee, hee, hee coming from that pasty-faced man with a "crooked" smile, I might finally lose it.
My first reaction when I saw McCain telling the old bat dressed in the red dress that Obama wasn't an arab I was impressed until my partner said how do I know that it wasn't a set-up. The more I see that clip the more I think now that it was because she started to speak and was cut off.
Oh well, three weeks from today we'll have our chance to move America back on the road to sense & sensibility. It will finally be over.
JB
Posted by: J. B. Hanson | October 14, 2008 4:41 AM
Given McCain's stammer and not-especially-rehearsed-sounding reply, I have serious doubts that the question was a setup, although I've heard that suggested before.
For those who haven't seen the clip, it can be found here.
McCain on Letterman is going to be interesting if only because, on the show a few weeks ago where McCain cancelled, Letterman seemed perplexed at first, then graduated to angry as the show progressed. He still brings it up in the occasional monologue, so he hasn't really let it go. I'll be curious to see how confrontational this interview is.
Posted by: Claude | October 14, 2008 11:33 PM
Z - Curious to know if McCain will be brave enough to bring up the "October surprise" that's been making the rounds on the Internet.
Sounds crazy, but the source is a Pennsyvlania Democratic politician who is pressing the case - Obama's Kenyan grandmother swears that he was born in Kenya, meaning that he's not eligible to become President of the U.S. (not a natural-born citizen). And Obama refuses to release his birth records, or his college or law school records.
The short film is hugely popular now on YouTube. Check it out and let us know what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs
Hi, Thomas, I have been running way behind on blog becuase of page 1 stroy I have been working the last two day. But I am bcak, and will check nthis out. Thanks. Z
Posted by: Thomas | October 15, 2008 10:37 AM
Letterman at his very best!!! Especially in the 2nd half! Good to see that both -at least somewhat- kept their sense of humor in all of this though.
Posted by: Stop Smoking | October 17, 2008 7:02 PM