John McCain’s secret message to the press
April 1st, 2008, 1:07 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Paul Giblin
John McCain
Veteran campaign strategist Ned Barnett figures that John McCain is targeting two distinct audiences with his “Service to America” tour. The audiences: new voters and members of The Fourth Estate.
OK, no surprise concerning new voters. But, c’mon. The Fourth Estate? Isn’t McCain supposed to be a media darling? Isn’t he supposed to be every reporter’s best friend?
Barnett told me, “It’s not that they don’t know who he is, but they focus on, ‘OK, he’s the guy who did McCain-Feingold and he’s the guy who did McCain-Kennedy and he’s the guy who did these cross-over bills.’ So, they see him in action as what Obama has said what he would do in principal, but has never done in action, which is to cross over party lines and come up with bipartisan or coalition or compromise solutions to major problems and issues.”
So, if members of the media already know McCain in those terms, what exactly is McCain’s message for the press during his cross-country biographical tour this week?
Barnett explained, “He’s trying to say, ‘When you look at me, remember that Hillary is saying, “I’ve got more experience than Obama,” and her experience was eight years as first lady and she’s having to embellish what she did in Bosnia to even be taken seriously as having experience. So wait a minute. I have real experience. I had more experience in serving this country before Hillary was out of law school.’”
So McCain’s goal, according to Barnett, is to remind reporters that he’s not just a candidate defined by the issues of the day; he’s a candidate with a lifetime of experiences to prepare him for the job.
Hmmm… Well, as a member of McCain’s manipulated masses in the press, I’ll take that under advisement.
For more on McCain’s tour, which concludes in Arizona on Saturday, check out my story in the Tribune.
