McCain’s Prickly TIME Interview
The Page by Mark Halperin — ... In a Q&A with TIME’s James Carney and Michael Scherer, the GOP candidate denies that his campaign has deviated from the old “straight talk express.” ...

The Early Word: Tonight's the Night
The Caucus — ... between tonight and John F. Kennedy’s acceptance speech in 1963 in Los Angeles. On the Republican front, the buzz is all about who Senator John McCain will choose as his running mate. Several contenders have become Republican counterparts here in Denver, and today Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is in the top tier, will be among those holding a news conference as part of the party’s opposition strategy during the Democrats’ convention. Time magazine also published an interview with Senator McCain, along with a tough headline word — “prickly.” Today at the D.N.C.: Besides tonight’s ...

Don't Mention Honorable Campaigning
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — A sensitive McCain snaps at Time interviewers. There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us? Read it in my books. I've read your books. No, I'm not going to define it. But honor in politics? I defined it in five books. Read my books. [Your] campaign today is more disciplined, more traditional, more aggressive. From your point of ...

Read The Book!
Matthew Yglesias — ... for the book. That consists largely of hoping to get the opportunity to talk about your book on the media. It’s a bit of a paradoxical situation, because you’re half inclined to say “well if you would just read the book, then you’d know the answer.” But of course that’s not how it’s done. You answer the question, you talk a bit, and you hope people get interested in the book. At least, that’s how most people do it. Then there’s John McCain talking to Time: ...

It’s McCain’s Turn
The Page by Mark Halperin — ... TIME’s latest issue, hitting stands Friday, turns the attention to the Republicans. Must-read stories: –McCain’s prickly interview with TIME. –Joe Klein on “What Bush Taught McCain.” ...

Enthusiasm gap
Rising Hegemon — When your candidate decides to campaign as an asshole it causes problems: Barack Obama can fill a 75,000 seat stadium. John McCain, it seems, is having trouble filling a 10,000 seat theater in Dayton. They're giving away free tickets in several states and plan to bus in supporters. The VP announcement can't be overshadowed by a less-than-capacity crowd.

The McCain Interview
Swampland — All right. Politicians hate these sorts of process questions--why aren't you hanging out with the press the way you used to do?--but John McCain's crude and angry response to my colleagues strikes me as further evidence of a man who has lost his bearings this year. I mean, he refuses to define what he means by 'honor'? How embarrassing for him. For the record, I was one of the journalists McCain talked to about his anguish during the Keating Five episode. He believed he was unfairly accused--included because the other four were Democrats and the Democratic majority in the ...

The Prickly Talk Express
Political Animal — ... detailing the remarkably curtailed access the senator now offers reporters, and the ways in which McCain replaced "straight talk" with stale talking points. To see just how dramatic a transformation this has been, take a minute to read this fascinating interview between McCain and Time's James Carney and Michael Scherer. There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us? Read it in my books. I've read your books. No, I'm not going to define it. But honor in ...

Why Would McCain Be "Prickly" With Time?
Riehl World View — Saw this headline ... at Time, so I decided to click in: McCain's Prickly TIME Interview. The first thing they publish from their interview is a question asking McCain to define Honor - then Honor in Politics. Hmm. Transition to the claim, perhaps valid, that he isn't his campaign the way he said he always would as regards almost unlimited access to the media. Hmm. Then they want to know if there was a debate around attacking Obama as aggressively as he had. Hmmmm. Seque to a question about the Keating Five. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. If ...

McCain getting grumpy
The Latest on Air America — ... McCain's base has always been the establishment media, which makes this piece all the more interesting... usually the press keeps McCain's nastiness to themseleves: ...

Time (Magazine) says McCain got testy
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... and I'll put my country first." Time: "There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?" McCain: "Read it in my books." Time: "I've read your books." McCain: "No, I'm not going to define it." Time: "But honor in politics?" McCain: "I defined it in five books. Read my books." Read more: http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/08/time-says-... full report here: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,183690...

John McCain Does Not Understand Cause and Effect
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — --Previous Post | Blog Index John McCain Does Not Understand Cause and Effect Others are focusing on the more bizarre moments of Time 's McCain interview , but I want to highlight on a passage near the end. Here's McCain: I believe that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. I believe it's clear that he had every intention to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. I can only imagine what Saddam Hussein would be doing with the wealth he would acquire with oil at $110 and $120 a barrel. Are there any sixth graders available who can explain ...

McCain Grumpy, Guarded
Outside The Beltway | OTB — ... John McCain got to where he is — the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for president — by building a reputation as a straight shooting maverick.  While part of that was always more mythical than real, a key part of building the mythos was his unprecedented access to reporters and, briefly, even bloggers. Now, he’s changed strategies and the people who he once called “his base” are fighting back.  See, for example, “ McCain’s Prickly TIME Interview .” And so when TIME’s James Carney and Michael Scherer were invited to the front of McCain’s plane recently for an ...

Time: 'Prickly' McCain vs. Not Tough Enough Obama
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — ... In the August 28 item, "McCain's Prickly TIME Interview," Time editors prefaced the transcript of James Carney and Michael Scherer's interview by lamenting McCain's less frequent engagement of the press as compared to his 2000 Republican primary run. They then insisted that McCain "quickly soured" and refused to "stray off message" during a Time interview: ...

McCain: Straight talk or cross talk?
The Swamp — ... the nomination of the Republican Party. TIME:You do acknowledge there was a change in the campaign, in the way you had run the campaign? McCain: [Shakes his head.] TIME: You don't acknowledge that? O.K., when your aides came to you and you decided, having been attacked by Barack Obama, to run some of those ads, was there a debate? McCain: The campaign responded as planned. Read the rest of the TIME interview here.

A curt McCain on display
Jonathan Martin's Blog — ... TIME's Jay Carney and Michael Scherer have up the verbatim of their interview with McCain for the new mag.  If the written word can evoke awkwardness, this will do it. ...

John McCain = 4 more years of secretive, unaccountable government
Brilliant at Breakfast — It's somewhat surprising that with even many people who should be on his side leery of John McCain's anger management problem, Johnny McCranky should allow the dark side of his personality out to a publication that's historically been friendly to him. From a TIME interview with James Carney and Michael Scherer: I wonder if you could define honor for us? Read it in my books. I've read your books. No, I'm not going to define it. But honor in politics? I defined it in five books. Read my ...

No More Mister Nice Blog — DON'T GET SUCKED IN -- HE'S FAKING IT A lot of people are chuckling about "McCain's Prickly TIME Interview": ...McCain at first seemed happy enough to do the interview. But his mood quickly soured. The McCain on display in the 24-minute interview was prickly, at times abrasive, and determined not to stray off message. An excerpt: What do you want voters to know coming out of the Republican Convention -- about you, about your candidacy? I'm prepared to be President of the United States, and I'll put my country first. There's a ...

McCain: Iraq is ‘A Peaceful And Stable Country Now’
Think Progress — ... Today, Time Magazine published an interview with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that it conducted aboard McCain’s campaign airplane. Reporters James Carney and Michael Scherer described McCain as “prickly” and “ ...

McCain Can’t Generate His Own Audience…
Comments from Left Field — ... On a completely different note, apparently McCain doesn’t like getting questioned about his transformation into just another Rovian campaigner.  People say Obama Obama has thin skin; I’m surprised McCain didn’t drop a POW bomb just for getting asked questions that weren’t exactly all that aggressive. ...

Horserace horse laughs
The Reaction — ... Maybe that's because even the dullest GOP loyalists realize that the Straight Talk Express has morphed into the GOP Talking Points Express, or as I like to call it, the Double Talk Shuttle. Short but funny interview with McCain at the link. ...

McCain's temper flares during pretty tame TIME interview
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth — ... all the time, up until a few months ago. It was the hallmark of his "maverick" status. But now, suddenly, John McCain and his campaign are deathly afraid of the candidate actually speaking with reporters. Why? Not clear. But it's a marked change from the McCain we knew just a year ago, let alone the McCain who ran for president in 2008. It's one more sign that something has changed. McCain is not the same man he was eight years ago, let alone one year ago. What happened? Here's an excerpt of TIME's interview: ...

"McCain at first seemed happy enough to do the interview. But his mood quickly soured."
Althouse — Yeah, guess why. Note that what Time provides here is "an excerpt," so it's not as if the conversation started out this curt. How many media folks are dying to piss off McCain and get him to blow up and confirm the idea that he's a big hothead? Obviously, he knows that and he's not taking the bait. Yet you still publish an article called "McCain's Prickly TIME Interview," trying to portray it as the blowup you were not able to procure. Lame. Shameless bias. ...

Bill Barol: The most revealing video of the DNC
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... I'm not so naive as to believe that figures like Obama don't have a preternatural sense of when they're on camera, and the savvy to tailor a performance. But here's a guy on the bleeding edge of history, hours away from having the biggest moment of his life watched by literally millions of people. The sense is inescapable of a person who, in that enormous moment, is at ease. Comfortable in his own skin, as the cliche goes. Compare this with John McCain's snappish sit- down with Time reporters recently, and with... Well, gosh, with pretty much every appearance he's made on camera ...

Breaking Up Is A Bitch
Hoffmania! — ... But for your own mental health, you need to make that harsh decision. It's sad when it happens, but it's hopeful that you grow more mature for the experience. That said, we welcome at least one small part of the MSM back from their abusive love affair with John McCain. ...

Tautology In Defense Of War Is No Vice
Wonk Room — In a recent TIME interview, McCain defended his support for the war by declaring “I can only imagine what Saddam Hussein would be doing with the wealth he would acquire with oil at $110 and $120 a barrel.” The key word here is “imagine,” because if the U.S. hadn’t invaded Iraq, it’s very likely that oil wouldn’t be anywhere near $120 a barrel. According to a leading oil economist, the Iraq war “tripled the price of oil…costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy prices ...

Remainders: Game day
Ben Smith's Blog — ... contact" with Chuck Schumer. Hotline's match up has Obama up big in the electoral college. Plouffe said the roll call was a bigger deal than anticipated. Is Rezko working with the feds? Jeremy McCarter is impressed with last night. A healthcare wonk with ties to the McCain campaign suggests that the U.S. Census Bureau could stop counting the number of uninsured and "Voila! Problem solved." McCain refuses to answer Time's questions, suggests reading his five books. ABC News ...

Wexler, Ellison Slam McCain’s Iraq Assessment: ‘That’s Ridiculous’, ‘He’s Just Dead Wrong’
Think Progress — In an interview with Time magazine this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared that Iraq “is a peaceful and stable country now.” ThinkProgress spoke with Reps. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Robert Wexler (D-FL) at the Democratic National Convention today, and asked them their response to McCain’s assertion. Wexler was incredulous, declaring, “He’s just dead wrong”: WEXLER: Sen McCain’s judgment unfortunately has become so mistaken on so many things, and this is yet another example of his apparently ...

Prickles The Candidate
pandagon.net - we are the public option — ... John McCain appears to be a little bit testy these days.  Time Magazine gets to step into the dusty confines of the press area on the Amazing Flying Straight Talk Express, and gets a face full of grizzled obstinance for their trouble. ...

John McCain’s Dick Move
The Talent Show — ... I know politics ain’t a beanbag, but John McCain has run a truly disrespectful campaign. Every chance he’s had to take the high ground and wage a campaign based on mutual respect and a desire to move America forward, he’s turned in the opposite direction. This is a nasty, brutish election and it’s all because John McCain made the choice that he would rather win an election than possibly lose and escape with his dignity intact. It’s no wonder he’s unable to define “honor”, he no longer has any. ...

Greg Saunders: John McCain's Dick Move
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... McCain actually respects Barack Obama. I know politics ain't a beanbag, but John McCain has run a truly disrespectful campaign. Every chance he's had to take the high ground and wage a campaign based on mutual respect and a desire to move America forward, he's turned in the opposite direction. This is a nasty, brutish election and it's all because John McCain made the choice that he would rather win an election than possibly lose and escape with his dignity intact. It's no wonder he's unable to define "honor", he no longer has any. ...

Tired? or Senile?
The Mahablog — ... I’d like someone with expertise in neuropsychology to take a look at this. I’m saying McCain’s behavior could indicate some kind of senility. ...

McCain's Prickly TIME Interview
Rook's Rant — Time You were a very enthusiastic supporter of the invasion of Iraq and, in the early stages, of the Bush Administration's handling of the war. Are those judgments you'd like to revisit? Well, my record is clear. I believe that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. I believe it's clear that he had every intention to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. I can only imagine what Saddam Hussein would be doing with the wealth he would acquire with oil at $110 and $120 a barrel. I was one of the first to point out the failure of strategy ...

Why Palin is the Right Choice for Republican VP
The Latest on Air America — ... , and the transformation of his Straight-Talk Express to the No-Talk Jet , the appeal’s been tarnished. Palin’s the perfect spit-shine; ...

A bunch of links
The Sideshow — ... Tonight's question is 'What would you most like to see Obama accomplish in his acceptance speech?' A majority of left-of-center bloggers said 'Show he grasps Americans' economic problems.' Only two said 'Establish that he's ready to be commander in chief.' The results among right-of-center bloggers is opposite. The majority said 'Establish that he's ready to be commander in chief.' Only two said 'Show he grasps Americans' economic problems.'" (Also: My, McSame certainly is Mr. Grumpy!) ...

Not Maverick but Erratic
TPMCafe — ... He's still doing that, as in this recent interview with two Time reporters, where he comes close to biting their heads off. Time calls him "prickly" and "abrasive." Listen to the audio on Time's site. An excerpt: ...

GMA Airs “John McCain in Three Minutes”
Crooks and Liars — ... Uh oh, the bloom is off the McCain Media rose.    They are definitely not working overtime to give him positive coverage.  Now, while this probably could have been more damaging, it’s indisputably very dismissive of the man poised to accept the Republican nomination for President of the United States in just a few days.  Combine this with Time Magazine’s “prickly” interview (for what it’s worth, ...

Will McCain And GOP Make Press The Issue?
The Moderate Voice — ... Press relations with McCain have been souring steadily since the campaign slapped greater discpline on all operations and campaign message. The first big sign was the shockingly sour and evasive interview McCain gave to Time Magazine. If you read it, you’ll be hard pressed to recall any interview with a candidate of any political party quite like it in a Time or Newsweek Q&A. ...

McCain Media Attacks Become Entrenched Part of Strategy
Political Punch — ... on Larry King Live tonight. McCain-Palin spox Maria Comella says: “As a Presidential campaign we reserve the right to adjust Senator McCain’s media schedule in order to ensure the most effective use of his time. After a relentless refusal by certain on-air reporters to come to terms with John McCain’s selection of Alaska’s sitting governor as our party’s nominee for Vice President, we decided John McCain’s time would be better served elsewhere." Then there's this "prickly" TIME interview with a reporter McCain was once fond of, Jay Carney. You can hear Carney's confusion. ...

Angry Amateurs
Swampland — ... against the press. This has been building for some time. Those of us who have criticized the candidate--and especially those of us who enjoyed good relations with McCain in the past--have been subject to off-the-record browbeating and attempted bullying all year. But things have gotten much worse in recent days: there was McCain's rude, bizarre interview with Time Magazine last week. Yesterday, McCain refused to an interview with Larry King, for God's sake, because Campbell Brown had been caught in the commission of ...

Klein: McCain's media war is "stupidly aggressive" and "unprofessional"
Michael Calderone's Blog — ... "McCain is just plain angry at us," Klein writes, as one reason behind the new strategy. Indeed, the candidate's bizarre answers to simple questions in the recent issue of Time back that up. The other reason, Klein writes, is Steve Schmidt's tactical decision "to slime the press," which is trying to examine Palin's record. He ...

Sarah Palin--The Package Looks Better But The Poison Will Make You Just As Sick
DownWithTyranny! — ... against the press. This has been building for some time. Those of us who have criticized the candidate--and especially those of us who enjoyed good relations with McCain in the past--have been subject to off-the-record browbeating and attempted bullying all year. But things have gotten much worse in recent days: there was McCain's rude, bizarre interview with Time Magazine last week. Yesterday, McCain refused to an interview with Larry King, for God's sake, because Campbell Brown had been caught in the commission of ...

Strengthening the message
democracyarsenal.org — ... since the McCain campaign decided to end the gaffe-prone conversations on the straight talk express and run a more tight-lipped and disciplined campaign. It was furthered this week by the r ...

Barbara's Daily BuzzFlash Minute for September 5, 2008
BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash — ...   Does he really think the American people should not question his record?  Does he really believe that his years of “trouble maker” fame can be reversed and made into a “Maverick” badge of honor to be worn with pride?  It doesn’t take much to bring out McCain’s temper; do we really want that kind of volatility answering phones at 3A.M.! * * * It seemed more like a funeral than a presidential Campaign Convention!  As I watched and listened to the Repuglicans last night I realized, this is not a race to be won on issues, because the issue is George Bush and he’s a loser! It ...

McCain Campaign Plans To Keep Palin Away From The Press
Think Progress — ... interest. If that means access to the press, we’ll give it to you. Watch it: The McCain campaign reportedly told the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder not to expect any one-on-one interviews with Palin any time soon. Despite McCain’s pledge of transparency — even proposing a regular President’s question time with Congress modeled after the British version — he has been shutting off press access for months. Yesterday, a Time reporter explained that McCain bizarrely refused to answer his questions, “ like he’d been body-snatched .” Davis insisted that ...

Obama Targeted on 'Sex Ed for Kindergarteners'
Political Radar — ... kindergarteners about how to recognize "inappropriate touching." Bill Burton, Obama's national press secretary, responded on Tuesday to McCain's ad with a sharply worded statement. “It is shameful and downright perverse," said Burton, "for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls -- a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why." Burton ...

Late Late Nite FDL: Back At The Chicken Shack, w/ Free Advice For Sarah Palin
Firedoglake — ... Chicken Shack As we enter the thirteenth day of the John and Sarah Won't Meet The Press game, a question comes to mind as I marvel at just how childish and downright afraid the McCain Palin duo has been. What are the words Palin won't have to learn before chatting with ABC Disney's Charlie "don't mess with my taxes" Gibson? Just in case, here's some free advice on how to handle it. Honor - McCain couldn't define it for Time magazine, so you won't have to. Budget - It's not what you call it ...

Late Late Nite FDL: Back At The Chicken Shack, w/ Free Advice For Sarah Palin
The Hollywood Liberal — ... Gibson? Jimmy Smith with Phil Upchurch - Back At The Chicken Shack As we enter the thirteenth day of the John and Sarah Won’t Meet The Press game, a question comes to mind as I marvel at just how childish and downright afraid the McCain Palin duo has been. What are the words Palin won’t have to learn before chatting with ABC Disney’s Charlie “don’t mess with my taxes” Gibson?  Just in case, here’s some free advice on how to handle it. Honor - McCain couldn’t define it for Time magazine, so you won’t have to. Budget - It’s not what you call it when life with the ...

Campaign 08: Tortured Untruths
The Nation: Top Stories — ... on Tuesday, or as did Time magazine reporters to whom the newly cloistered candidate coldly denied that he and the press had once enjoyed freewheeling good times aboard the Straight Talk Express. This duality of passivity and aggression is disturbing enough, but in times like these it makes Obama's consistent emotional tenor all the more reassuring. (After the bailout failure, Obama came out with his own ...

Hard To Kill, But Not Impossible: Finally, The End Of Radar
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... McCain had given to the press (the last "Old John McCain"-style interview, in contrast to, say, this one). Maybe it's because I have found myself just really liking the website lately (loved the ...

Davis: McCain thought Time guys were 'jerks'
Michael Calderone's Blog — ... On the "Time" magazine interview where McCain was non-responsive, leading journalists to conclude he was unhappy with his own campaign: “He didn’t want to do that interview, he thought they were being jerks.” ...

No More Mister Nice Blog — THE EMERGING RESENTLICAN MINORITY If you liked John McCain's now-famous bitter Time magazine interview from last August, you'll really enjoy Karl Rove's chitchat with Deborah Solomon in today's New York Times Magazine. Somehow I suspect Rove didn't give Solomon any of the cream puffs he's been known to bestow on journalists in happier times: Do you see the election results as a repudiation of your politics? Our new president-elect won one and a half points more than George W. Bush won in 2004, and he did so, in ...