Reporter Gets Stuck on Stupid, McCain Gets Mad

I think the story about John McCain getting a bit testy with a New York Times reporter is funny.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are ripping each other apart. The Democrat Party is in utter disarray over Michigan and Florida. Dems are deeply divided.

There's no trouble brewing on the Republican side so the media have to make something up.

The big story: McCain became irritated with Elisabeth Bumiller, a New York Times reporter. He supposedly flashed his legendary temper.

GASP!

NEW ORLEANS -- Senator John McCain fielded a question at a public forum on Friday morning in Atlanta that he said he had never been asked before. Because Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, had approached him about being his running mate for the White House in 2004, would Mr. McCain now return the favor?

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, who has long been distrusted by conservatives as a Democratic sympathizer, quickly said no he would not — and just as quickly said he had never considered sharing the ticket with Mr. Kerry, a friend.

“He is, as he describes himself, a liberal Democrat,” Mr. McCain said of Mr. Kerry, adding that he meant no offense by the term. “I am a conservative Republican. So when I was approached, when we had that conversation back in 2004, that’s why I never even considered such a thing.”

Later, when Mr. McCain was asked by a reporter from The New York Times about the conversation and why he said in an interview with The Times in May 2004 that he had not even had a casual conversation with Mr. Kerry on the topic, Mr. McCain displayed some of the temper that he is known for but that he has largely kept under control in this campaign.

“Everybody knows I had a conversation,” he testily told the reporter in a news conference on his plane as it headed here from Atlanta. “Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation. There’s no living American in Washington, there’s no one, and you know it, too. You know it. You know it. So I don’t even know why you asked.”

When asked to address when the conversation with Mr. Kerry occurred, Mr. McCain once again replied sharply. “No, no,” he said, “because the issue is closed, as far as I’m concerned. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it in America.”

The issue has become a highly sensitive one to Mr. McCain, who is actively courting conservatives.

This is getting to be a pattern.

The New York Times keeps regurgitating old news and attempting to make a story out of nothing.

McCain is right. Everybody knows about the John Kerry conversation. That issue is closed. If it bothers some conservatives, then it does. Clearly, the Times wants it to bother and alienate as many conservatives as possible. The libs want no unity in the Republican Party so they try to undermine McCain and raise doubt among voters.

I don't see why this old story would matter. If McCain had seriously considered being on the Dem ticket with Kerry in 2004, then I can see why it would be a sensitive issue.

Newsflash: John Edwards was Kerry's running mate, not John McCain.

As McCain said, "[A]ll this stuff is water under the bridge."

Oooh. McCain displayed "some of the temper that he is known for but that he has largely kept under control in this campaign."

That sounds so stupid.

McCain is known for a lot more than his temper. The suggestion that he's somehow hiding his real self is ridiculous.

I can understand why McCain was irritated at the reporter.

It reminds me of Lt. Gen. Russel Honore dealing with the fools in the press in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when Hurricane Rita was threatening New Orleans.

Male reporter: General Honore, we were told that Berman Stadium on the west bank would be another staging area...

Honore: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current place, I just told you one time, is the convention center. Once we complete the plan with the mayor, and is approved by the governor, then we'll start that in the next 12-24 hours. And we understand that there's a problem in getting communications out. That's where we need your help. But let's not confuse the questions with the answers. Buses at the convention center will move our citizens, for whom we have sworn that we will support and defend...and we'll move them on. Let's not get stuck on the last storm. You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don't confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people. That's why we like follow-up questions. But right now, it's the convention center, and move on.

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last time...

Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out. This is the way we've got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let's talk about the future. Rita is happening. And right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months.

Of course, McCain became testy.

Elisabeth Bumiller is stuck on stupid.

The Times also raised another non-controversy controversy.

Later, before speaking to a conservative group here, Mr. McCain repudiated the views of a prominent Texas televangelist, the Rev. James C. Hagee, who endorsed him last month. Mr. Hagee has called the Roman Catholic Church the “anti-Christ” and a “false cult system.”

Despite calls from the Catholic League to renounce the endorsement, Mr. McCain said last week that he was proud of Mr. Hagee’s spiritual leadership and his commitment to Israel and that “when he endorses me, it does not mean that I embrace everything that he stands for or believes in.”

On Friday, Mr. McCain told The Associated Press that he took issue with Mr. Hagee’s comments on the Catholic Church.

“I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee’s, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics,” Mr. McCain said, adding that he had sent two of his children to Catholic school.

McCain repudiates any comments of Hagee's that offend Catholics.

That's black and white. That issue is closed as well.

I don't blame McCain for being annoyed with the media's stupidity. It's understandable why he might be ticked off by Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller's lame line of questioning.

Watch McCain answer Bumiller. (h/t Pete)

Do you call that a display of temper? I don't.