How McCain is Like Goldwater

By Eric Pfeiffer | September 23, 2008 11:06 AM | | Comments (0)

For more than a decade John McCain has been a darling of the national political press, even up through his victory in the Republican primary. Much of that has changed, in part because the media has somewhat moved on from the McCain narrative and at least equally because of the McCain campaign's animosity toward the press corp. Townhall's Matt Lewis says the following passage describes the evolution quite well:

"He loved the Senate, he loved Arizona, he loved his wife, and he hated being told what to do ... He may have also sensed that his popularity, which was considerable, would change once he became a candidate for president.  As many people have discovered, a politician can go to long way in Washington until he becomes a serious presidential candidate.  At that precise moment the Washington press corps digs in, and reputations are destroyed in no time."

However, Lewis points out:

The author goes on to write that prior to running for president, this person wrote a popular book, was subject of numerous positive  magazine articles, and was a fixture on national television.

... I should probably point out that this quote is not in reference to John McCain.  It actually comes from Alfred Regnery's book, "Upstream," and refers to Barry Goldwater's 1964 race. 

The only difference here I'd point out is that the media's positive treatment of Obama actually accelerated when he announced his run for president. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy aside, a "digging in" by the press corps didn't really begin until after Obama had defeated Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
 

Tags: John McCain, Media

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