John McCain on 60 Minutes

Sunday on 60 Minutes, John McCain finally got some airtime.

Scott Pelley did the interview. The tone was much different from the puff pieces 60 Minutes has done on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. There was no fawning, no joking.

Did Pelley even crack a smile? I know McCain did.

The beginning angle of the story was that McCain is a phoenix, that his campaign was broke and he rose from the ashes to win the Republican nomination.

Pelley did a bit on McCain's time as a P.O.W.

It was a perfect way for Pelley to get McCain to say that the U.S. has been torturing prisoners by waterboarding them.

Pelley pointed out that this election is going to be about the economy, stupid; yet McCain focuses on the war and national security issues.

Pelley didn't say that McCain was out of touch. He didn't have to say it.

He pointed out that McCain had originally voted against the Bush tax cuts but now he supports them.

On health care, Pelley suggested that the Democrats believe universal health care is a moral responsibility, insinuating that McCain is immoral because he has a different plan when it comes to health care.

Pelley's interview was a lightning round, moving from issue to issue.

On immigration, he says that the borders should be secured first but, despite criticism from conservatives, he told 60 Minutes this about illegal immigrants: "If they complied with some very stringent and rigid requirements, they could find themselves on a path to citizenship."

This was a pattern throughout the interview. It seemed Pelley took every opportunity to highlight the "criticism from conservatives" point.

Pelley said that on Capitol Hill, McCain reaches out across the aisle. Here's the 60 Minutes spin on that:

On Capitol Hill he gets credit for reaching out to Democrats on big issues like immigration and campaign finance reform. But his fellow politicians are critical of his high minded condemnation of money in politics.

Again and again, Pelley drew attention to members of McCain's party being against him.

Pelley suggested hypocrisy on McCain's part. He accuses other lawmakers of corruption when McCain has taken money from lobbyists. McCain denied any wrongdoing or impropriety.

Pelley pressed McCain on his health and asked when he's going to release his medical records. (Has Bill Clinton ever released his medical records?)

Viewers were reminded that the "elderly" McCain's health is an issue. Pelley said in 2002 he was diagnosed with the "most lethal form" of skin cancer.

Pelley wanted McCain to say that he has had no recurrence of the disease. He said he hadn't.

Pelley then said that McCain has had a recurring problem with his temper.

Naturally, a bit of that stupid tape of McCain answering the lame questions of New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller was shown as an example.

It was positively loony. That was no display of temper.

60 Minutes saw it again on the day of our interview, when he became annoyed with a reporter's questions.

"Some people say you have a short fuse," Pelley remarked. "You acknowledge that?"

"I get angry when I see things go wrong. I've never been elected Ms. Congeniality. But I do believe that I can unite this party. And I think the American people support somebody who still has the capacity, maybe, to get angry from time to time when we see something wrong," McCain said.

Now, eight months before Election Day, McCain is running a close race. He’s behind in fundraising, but he has a head start on November as the Democrats battle on.

Asked what he says to those who say he can't beat a Democrat in November, McCain said, "I say 'I know that I can.' But I also believe that America is a right-of-center nation. And I think that Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, with all due respect, are liberal Democrats. And I'm a conservative Republican. So I believe I can make a better case to the American people."

I suppose this is what 60 Minutes considers to be fair and balanced treatment of a Republican candidate.

At least there were no fake documents used in the piece.

Of course, it's way too early for measures like that. Wait until September or October.