McCain Hosts His ‘Base’ For A BBQ: The ‘Maverick’ And The Press Are Back Together Again
McCain Hosts His ‘Base’ For A BBQ: The ‘Maverick’ And The Press Are Back Together Again
Soon after the New York Times published an article exploring Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) unetheical relationships with lobbyists, McCain banished reporters covering his presidential bid — who have been said to be his political “base” — to the back of his campaign airplane.
But over the weekend, McCain reversed course, hosting a “thank you” cookout on Sunday for over 40 reporters from a wide variety of news outlets — including the New York Times — at his vacation home in Arizona.
McCain’s latest “charm offensive” to “woo the reporters” and appease his “constituency” may have paid off. After McCain grilled for his guests, shared his secret recipes, and provided guided tours inside and around his “rustic Arizona home,” reporters have taken the bait. McCain and the press are back together again. Some highlights from the press accounts of the McCain barbeque:
– “The idea…was to allow reporters to get to know him and his staff under less stressful circumstances. (The fact that the media spent the weekend at a resort called Enchantment probably contributed to that feeling.)”
– “There is something surprising — perhaps even metaphysically provocative — about the notion of Mr. Straight Talk in such close proximity to what may be the nation’s highest proportion of crystal-wielding psychics.”
– “McCain held court the way he does almost daily aboard his ‘Straight Talk Express‘ bus.”
– “McCain comes across as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy, not terribly given to brooding or introspective meditation.”
– “As grillmaster, he looked like the all-American dad, with a story for every spot in the house.”
Some even boasted of McCain’s cooking skills:
– “McCain stood over not one, but two gas grills, cooking up ribs and chicken for his guests.”
– “So how did they taste? Objectivity prohibits a good reporter from passing judgement, but let’s put it this way: everyone wants to come back.”
In two separate articles on the same day about the event, the Washington Post linked McCain’s vacation home to the “notion of the Presidential Ranch” and compared it to those of Presidents Bush (41 and 43), Reagan, and LBJ.
Newsday said that McCain “made no news and the press corps was well behaved during the two-and-a-half hour barbecue.” Indeed, McCain seemed to appreciate his guests’ appropriate behavior as they boarded the bus to leave the event: “We’ll have to do this again,” McCain called, waving. “See you tomorrow!”
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As I stated earlier here, I proudly stand on both sides of any issue.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm-J.M.
Mmmmmm…..barbecued pork…….
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:49 pmWow. He can grill. That qualifies him for President.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:49 pmThe Kool-aid was enjoyed by all.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pmCaption Contest: “Why W. Loves the Maverick”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pmCaption:
DEEP THROAT 2 “Linda Lovelace could learn a trick or two from this Maverick!”
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:51 pmDo you think the love affair with the press will last ?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm“We just want us a regular guy for president. If he can serve up some grilled chicken, we’ll just pretend all that flippity-floppity crazy talk doesn’t exist.”
One of the biggest problems in the country is how incredibly shallow the “reporting” has become.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 pmNo report of mass vomiting and food poisoning on the bus ride back?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 pmDo you think the love affair with the press will last ?
Comment by overlap
No. Once the press sees which side the bread is buttered on, they will drop McCain like a hot potato. If anything is a result of of the press it is John McCain the “Maverick”. Without their constant drumbeat about what a “maverick” he is, he would have long ago been exposed for the fraud that he really is.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pmCaption:
Hey, Dick’s dick is almost THIS big!
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pmWell, it’s nice to know what their price is. I think that all Obama needs to do is take them to a Shoney’s breakfast bar and he’s golden. Hillary, break out your old cookie receipe.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pmWhen is this sycophantic, sleeping press going to wake up? When are they going to equate the in the toilet economy with the military budget? Where are the intrepid reporters that are going to ask the hard questions? Where are the deep throats that will expose the last 8 years for what it is? Why doesn’t the press realize that McBomb will completely destroy what is left of this countrty? Why isn’t the press connecting the dots and asking questions linking this “phony war on terrorism” and the fact people are losing their homes left and right?
Instead of : do you prefer yellow or hot mustard?
Jeesh.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pmGreat. These folks don’t want a president, they want a caterer.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:57 pmWhen is this sycophantic, sleeping press going to wake up? When are they going to equate the in the toilet economy with the military budget? Where are the intrepid reporters that are going to ask the hard questions?
Jan 20th 2009. You can bet that Obama or Hillary will get saddled with the defiect, the recession, the war and every other republican scandal.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:58 pmcaption: McCain eats crow.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pmThe media is acting like politicians, selling their soul for a free lunch.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pmNo wonder the press has forgotten it’s job…
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 pmWow! McCain can grill. If that does not make him qualified for president, I don’t what was does.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 pmWhat media?
You mean those sheeple afraid to ask questions as a WH presser?
They aren’t media. They’re shining examples of Pavlovian response.f
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:04 pmWow! I really want to have a beer with this guy!
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:04 pmOk. I guess it’s Obama’s turn to have everyone over this weekend. Barack can make a mean chili! Ok, media come and get it…
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pmSo does this mean that the next article about McCain and lobbyists will be written by some disgruntled hack who was miffed at not getting an invitation? Or is that just how the McCain camp will spin it?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:06 pmMcGrill toasts ass for reporters!
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm-film at 11:00
Can we waterboard McWar for the entertainment portion of the evening?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm“McCain stood over not one, but two gas grills,
Whoa, dude………………
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 pmSo the press is all ready to give McMaverick a pass - hey, who cares if when he does know what he’s talking about it’s because he’s lying and the rest of the time he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, he makes a decent burger, so….
…was kool-aid served too, intrepid “journalists”??
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 pmLooks like we finally found something positive that McCain is qualified for. When Barak Obama is elected President this November maybe he’ll appoint McCain to be Head Grillmaster to the President.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 pmThe press knows by whom they are owned. They know who controls their advertising base. Yes, they do know on which side the bread is buttered.
The vast majority of the American people are ignorant of the true state of affairs. Brainwased since the Goldwater campaign to believe that all Democrats are left wing commies (Obama’s and Clinton’s records are the most radical of any of the Senate Democrats - just like Kerry and Gore before him.) Yet the press knows that they are to follow the script. No questioning of the rediculous exaggeration. McCain who seems to show some real problems of character (ditching the first wife in a wheel chair for another woman with who he was having an affair), part of S&L scandal, and now flip flopping on every issue. Yet we hear the constant beat of Maverick and Straight Talk. Gore was savaged for his credibility because of trivial and stretched issues. The press jumped on it with both feet. McCain gets the pass. Kerry raped over false Vietnam stories which the Iseman issue raises the hackles of all the press. Kerry treated as the flip flopper and Maverick gets a pass.
It is time to grow up. The press is a tool of the monied interest. The American voter is treated as a lamb to be led to slaughter. All too many breathe in the Orwellian drivel that comes from the press.
How does the press portray the race. Well see who this reminds you of:
McCain held court the way he does almost daily aboard his “Straight Talk Express†bus.â€
– “McCain comes across as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy, not terribly given to brooding or introspective meditation.â€
– “As grillmaster, he looked like the all-American dad, with a story for every spot in the house.â€
Is that not the same basis upon which Bush was touted by the press and elected?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm– “The idea…was to allow reporters to get to know him and his staff under less stressful circumstances. (The fact that the media spent the weekend at a resort called Enchantment probably contributed to that feeling.)â€
And wait until McInsane puts in a bid for Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch ; the good times will continue to roll………..
Are you kidding me ?
These dimwits believe a staged , phony get-together is indicative of this senile old fool’s personality or demeanor ?
Wearing tight leather pants doesn’t make me Jim Morrison………
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pmMaybe it’s the double dose of carbon monoxide that makes him so smart.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm“McCain stood over not one, but two gas grills,
Whoa, dude………………
Comment by Nevar — March 3, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
I guess that confirms his “hero” status ………….
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:11 pmSpeaking of grilling, when are KKKarl & Harriet coming back to D.C.?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:13 pmWhy would McMaverick eat chicken or ribs on a hot dog bun?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm“McCain stood over not one, but two gas grills…”
he’s been inhaling too much propane.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 pmZimzone; that wasn’t chicken or ribs, but it WAS crow.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 pmWhere are the deep throats that will expose the last 8 years for what it is?
Comment by Kay — March 3, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
They’re all waiting for Febrary 2009 to sign book deals.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pmWearing tight leather pants doesn’t make me Jim Morrison………
Comment by MCMetal — March 3, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
L O L … thanks for that…
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:23 pm“I think we’re a little away from Sedona,” McCain said, grinning, and then playfully grumbled about the fact that “they” (the New Agers, presumably) chose to flock to one of the most beautiful places in the country instead of to………….
Umm, ’scuze me, Pork Chop, but the louder lament is over the hideous development wrought upon the redrock country by the money and watersucking developers who have transformed a place where one could once sense the energies of the natural world, to a commercialized tourist and retiree trap where the only thing the vortexes carry is the dust from the Hummers and Commanders.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:23 pmSo they want us to go from a President you’d like to have a beer with to a President you’d like to have a BBQ with. Now that’s change. Would you like fries with that?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 pmWearing tight leather pants doesn’t make me Jim Morrison………
Comment by MCMetal — March 3, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
L O L … thanks for that…
Comment by katy — March 3, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
You’re quite welcome……..
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm“Q: Would you sleep with me if I gave you a million dollars?”
“A: Your place or mine?”
“Q: OK, how about if I just got you a weekend free at the Enchantment resort?”
“A: What do you think I am, some kind of whore?”
“Q: We’ve already determined that; we’re just haggling about the price….”
Cheers,
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pmHe’s just a plain grillin’ fella.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:40 pmOh boy, another who would you want to have a beer with president?
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pmCaption Contest;
Smear a good RePUG turd on a roll and you still have a good roll.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pmJust what everyone needs to view ; a pic of a distorted faced old asswipe , distorting his face even more by grossly shoveling food into his stupid mouth ……..Good call
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm“McCain stood over not one, but two gas grills,
Whoa, dude………………
Comment by Nevar — March 3, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
This one had me chuckling.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm“McCain stood over not one, but two gas grills,
Whoa, dude………………
Comment by Nevar
I thought the same. And to think there are people wasting their lives finding the cure for cancer…
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:56 pmI think Hillary should dress up in an Easter Bunny costume and hand out Easter eggs and Easter baskets to all the “Mainstream Media”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pmMaybe then they might stop trying to bury her.
Obama could crap in all their faces right now and they’d all think it was Easter candy.
” McCain comes across as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy, not terribly given to brooding or introspective meditation.â€
FUNNY!? I recall that having been said about George W. Bush several dozen times and look how well that worked out!
BTW how pathetic is it that journalists can be bought for a subway sandwich? I think even crack-whores have more dignity.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 pmMcCain’s admitted adultery and 15-year first marriage (the wife he dumped when he was 43 for a 25-year old millionaire heiress despite the fact that she had waited for him to come back from Vietnam and raised their 3 children) is apparently a forbidden topic. He divorced Carol Shepp McCain (who had been in a car accident in 1969 causing her medical problems and weight gain) in April 1980 and married Cindy in May 1980. Family values!
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pmI think Hillary should dress up in an Easter Bunny costume and hand out Easter eggs and Easter baskets to all the “Mainstream Mediaâ€.
Maybe then they might stop trying to bury her.
Obama could crap in all their faces right now and they’d all think it was Easter candy.
Comment by OxyCon
You know, I am getting damn sick and tired of all this “the media hates Hillary and loves Obama” shit. From what I have seen they have been negative just about equal to the two of them. Maybe a little more towards Hillary because she keeps doing things that garner negative publicity.
What are you going to do OxyCon when Obama is the candidate? Are you going to vote for McCain? Or how about Nader? Or are you going to sit home and pout because Hillary didn’t win?
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 pmOh boy, another who would you want to have a beer with president?
Comment by Evergreen2U
Personally I would rather have a President I could have a glass of wine with rather than a beer.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm51, gulfwargrunt,
McGrill dumped his wife who stayed faithful to him while he was POW for an heiress? Wow, that reminds me of Newt ‘the reptile’ Gingrich.
Americans, you can expect to be treated like McCain’s wife if he’s elected.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 pmHe’ll dump you like this morning’s stool when he sees the next shiny object.
Zimzone - yeah, its hard to explain why this is so hushed up, except that the media loves McCain. The facts are not in dispute: in 1965 John McCain married Carol Shepp, a Philadelphia model who had previously been marrried to one of his Annapolis classmates. McCain adopted her two children as his own and they had a third child. From 1967-1973 Carol Shepp McCain worked tirelessly for John’s release from Vietnam captivity, and raised the children alone. She had a serious car accident in 1969 which left her with lingering medical issues and weight gain. John McCain returned to the U.S. in 1973. By 1979 John McCain (age 43) met Cindy Helmsley (age 25) at a military reception and started pursuing her. McCain was still living with wife Carol. He divorced Carol in April 1980 (with a generous alimony settlement) and married Cindy in May 1980. McCain admits that he was unfaithful to Carol. McCain moved to Arizona and took a position at Cindy’s father’s giant beer distribution business as a PR man. His newfound wealth and connections through his millionaire father-in-law paved the way for his political career in his adopted state of Arizona.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 pmNo. Once the press sees which side the bread is buttered on, they will drop McCain like a hot potato. If anything is a result of of the press it is John McCain the “Maverickâ€. Without their constant drumbeat about what a “maverick†he is, he would have long ago been exposed for the fraud that he really is.
Comment by bilbobaggins
And exhibit “a,” is the way they have gone after Colin Powell tooth and claw in an unremitting wail of rage and disdain for his UN yellowcake lies — an assault, the likes of which this nation hasn’t previously seen since the days of Nixon.
Oh, wait…
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm“not terribly given to brooding or introspective meditation”
Frankly, I’d rather have a prez with introspective meditation. I’m tired of shallow frat boys playing out their unresolved psychological conflicts.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:02 pmIf the most substantive criticism that can be lodged against McCain is that he hosted a bbq for some press (the added bold text definitely drives the point home), I think his presidential candidacy is all the more iminent.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 pmDead puppy sandwich.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm58 - fortunately, it’s far from that. just another in a litany.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:17 pmComment by ThinkBalanced — March 3, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
Thanks for your insightful commentary.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:18 pmI think his presidential candidacy is all the more iminent.
Comment by ThinkBalanced
Really? Is he really really really going to run for president?
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm“Nevar,” your efforts at debunking my rhetoric are misguided. Most of us who are well-versed in the English language understand that candidacy can mean “seeking an election” or “one that seems probable to reach a certain fate.”
Any substantive arguments against McCain and not linguistic misunderstandings will be discussed.
Thanks,
The Management
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pmHow sad for America that our Presidental election is based on an outdoor grill.
Pathetic. I hope he sucked them all off just to ensure more positive coverage….
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 pmCaption Contest: Oh Man! I hope people don’t think I bit the “Big One”
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 pmPersonally I would rather have a President I could have a glass of wine with rather than a beer.
Comment by bilbobaggins — March 3, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
likewise!
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:02 pmgood_golly, I fart in you general direction… You too,can bite the “Big One”
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pmI will paste this news in my blog on the dating site ———— http://tallmeet.com ——- And as a part-time model, I uploaded my best photos, the members there said I am amazing. here are many people like me. interested in?Just search the username, you may want to check them first.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 pmIs that a “hagee” sandwich, John? Don’t worry, you’ll get it all in there…work it, work it….
March 4th, 2008 at 12:49 amJohn McCain now known as Ronald Gump.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:50 amIt is perfect…..
Ronald Gump.
With one post including an unverified “quoteâ€, Lefty (joined by Ho) summarize the sum and substance of the American Left. Pathetic.
Comment by good_golly — March 3, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
ROTFL!! What, FACTUAL and HONEST? Yeah, a LYING, IMMORAL, TRAITOR like you would really be OFFENDED by that!! ROTFL!!
March 4th, 2008 at 3:01 amJohn McCain is Ronald Gump
March 4th, 2008 at 5:39 pmSo they want us to go from a President you’d like to have a beer with to a President you’d like to have a BBQ with. Now that’s change. Would you like fries with that?
May 11th, 2008 at 5:35 pm