Because of this video exchange regarding Palin's foreign policy experience (or lack therof) an angry McCain has cancelled his appearance on Larry King Live yesterday.

How DARE they? Clearly CNN hates America. I mean, what kind of moron cares what kind of national security experience our president has? Well, okay sure, John McCain has made national security experience the center piece of his entire campaign, so yeah, I mean, McCain thinks everything depends on the candidate's national security experience. But still, what kind of sick, depraved reporter would ask about something so personal, something so off-limits, so base as the foreign policy experience, national security experience, of a presidential candidate? Have you no shame, Campbell Brown?

All kidding aside, McCain is entering very dangerous territory here. He's already on the verge of losing his maverick brand - based in large part on his free-wheeling willingness to talk to the media whenever they wanted, and large part on his previous unwillingness to adopt the very Karl Rove-ian negative campaigning he's now adopted. And now McCain is throwing a temper tantrum, when one of McCain's biggest negatives is his over-the-top temper, that even numerous Republican Senators say is a big problem, and not very presidential (or safe).

The McCain camp has benefited from years of media-love. McCain even called the media "his base." It's only the last week, really, that the media, across the board, was willing to ask McCain the kind of hard questions that they never had a problem asking Barack Obama.

The fact remains that McCain screwed up, big time, in selecting Sarah Palin as commander in chief material. The McCain campaign can't admit that on the biggest decision McCain has made as a candidate, he didn't meet the presidential test, so they're attacking the messenger: first the blogs, and now the corporate media.

And as an aside, McCain knows he screwed up. He's now trying to shift the story over to the "big bad media" beating up his wonderful vice presidential pick. It's the only way they know how to save themselves, shift the blame, shift the story. That's what's going on with McCain canceling the interview. They're trying to scapegoat the media, and at the same time force networks like CNN to be nicer to McCain or he won't invite them to any more barbeques.

Watch the CNN interview that so upset the McCain campaign that they're now boycotting CNN. In it, McCain's spokesman makes the preposterous claim that Sarah Palin is ready to lead our armed forces because she's "the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard." And let's not forget, as Mrs. McCain reminded us, Alaska is close to Russia, so that means, um, it's not clear what it means. Here's the video. See for yourself what a cry-baby John McCain is.



Palin also lied about visiting Ireland as part of her foreign policy experience. She didn't visit Ireland, which is what the McCain-Palin campaign claimed to Politico's Ben Smith on Saturday. She had a short refueling stopover, which means at best her extensive Irish diplomacy amounted to buying a sweater and a beer mug in the Shannon airport.

Why does Sarah Palin's duty-free-diplomacy matter? Because John McCain, who is 72 and has had 4 bouts of cancer, just picked Sarah Palin to replace him as commander in chief should he die or be incapacitated in office. Sarah Palin, in an effort to bolster her non-existent national security expertise, claimed she had visited 3 countries: Germany; Kuwait; and Ireland. Now we find out that one of those three, 33% of her experience, was pretty much a lie. Did the McCain campaign know that Palin basically lied to the media and the American people? Or did this Irish blogger do the vetting that the McCain campaign couldn't be bothered to do?

Oh, the McCain-Palin campaign now alleges that Palin visited Canada too. Sure, if you count buying a Celine Dion CD.

The New York Times on Palin's own shotgun wedding.

NYT

 Quote:
The Palins eloped on Aug. 29, 1988, and their first son, Track, was born eight months later, a fact that Maria Comella of the McCain campaign, declined to elaborate on. “They were high school sweethearts who got married and ended up having five beautiful children together,” Ms. Comella said.


The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.......