Free Ride

Kevin Drum On John McCain And the press.

Let's recap. Foreign policy cred lets him get away with wild howlers on foreign policy. Fiscal integrity cred lets him get away with outlandishly irresponsible economic plans. Anti-lobbyist cred lets him get away with pandering to lobbyists. Campaign finance reform cred lets him get away with gaming the campaign finance system. Straight talking cred lets him get away with brutally slandering Mitt Romney in the closing days of the Republican primary. Maverick uprightness cred allows him to get away with begging for endorsements from extremist religious leaders like John Hagee. "Man of conviction" cred allows him to get away with transparent flip-flopping so egregious it would make any other politician a laughingstock. Anti-torture cred allows him to get away with supporting torture as long as only the CIA does it.

Remind me again: where does all this cred come from? And what window do Democrats go to to get the same treatment the press gives McCain?

Atrios is on the case too.

Digby

Here's the thing. It's not just McCain. They let Reagan and Junior get away with it too. The media allow Republicans to speak nonsense to the public all the time and don't challenge them. Meanwhile Democrats are derided for being dishonest, boring eggheads who can't be trusted.

The Republican nominee just spoke in classic Bushian gibberish on the nation's most pressing issue and everyone will call it straight talk. This is a problem and it's bigger than St John.