Rathergate Redux?


I dunno, but something about the McCain allegations doesn't pass the smell test. And, sorry that I don't have the link (well, not that I'd be directing loads of traffic anyway), but I saw somewhere that this apparently was all the bait Sean Hannity needed to take the hook. Tbogg notes that HindRocket's on board...I suppose later we'll see what Rush Lamebone has to say.

For a "scandal," it seems awfully weak, and allows McCain to play the ultimate wingnut fantasy: victim of the librul media (does it get any more librul than the New York Times, especially now that Dan Rather's been cashiered?). The Politico's headline is about how the McCain camp vows to "go to war" with Pravda-Upon-Hudson, i.e., a sure-fire way to connect with the wingers on a gutteral level (the only level they understand)...

I've also seen a fair amount of "is it a smear?" material, at least on the internet media this morning. How convenient.

Now, I'm not saying McCain was cynical to the point that he orchestrated this himself, but...just yesterday (also at Tbogg) I came across this:

[McCain's] MO is this: Get the story out -- even if it's a negative story. Get it out first, with the spin you want, with the details you want and without the details you don't want.

McCain did it with the Keating Five, and with the story of the failure of his first marriage (Cindy is his second wife). So what you recall after the humble, honest interview, is not that McCain did favors for savings and loan failure Charlie Keating, or that he cheated on his wife, but instead what an upfront, righteous guy he is.

Candor is the McCain trademark, but what the journalists who slobber over the senator fail to realize is that the candor is premeditated and polished. John McCain shoots from the hip -- but only after carefully rehearsing the battle plan, to be sure he won't get shot himself.

Again, I'm not implying that this was orchestrated, but I won't be surprised at all if the McCain camp manages to concoct enough chicken salad out of the chicken shit that at least a few wingnuts hop on board (there's NO accounting for THEIR taste). And, as with Rathergate, if there are a few not-quite-right details when this eventually plays out, it might well do for the Straight-Talk what it did for the Decider in '04: keep the media just off-balance enough...

And while I doubt it would be THE decisive factor, every little bit helps...and don't think the Rethugs don't know that.