They hope, oh how they hope...
The Washington Post reports that Senator John McCain's trip across the west with the President yesterday "ended any hopes" that the often dissenting Senator would hitch his wagon to the Kerry train as a Vice Presidential running mate.
The Senior Senator from Arizona has been largely ambiguous about the question up until now. If you don't count last month’s blanket denial ("I will not be vice president of the United States. I will not be a candidate. And I mean that.") on NBC's Meet the Press, or his rebuff ("I spent several years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States?") on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (scroll to the end).
The press has a responsibility to pursue stories, certainly – and even to push beyond any denials thrown their way. Some of the most famous stories in the annals of media have followed very public denials. The media’s fascination with a bipartisan Kerry-McCain ticket has been based on very few facts along the way, and Senator McCain’s continued refusals to entertain an offer for the VP spot have underscored the lack of corroboration.
Last week, the Kerry team, for reasons passing understanding, leaked the fact that the two Senators talked, essentially dancing around the issue and coming to the (wink, wink) understanding that McCain wasn’t kidding when he said he wouldn’t entertain Kerry’s advances. Even in politics – well, at least McCain’s special version - no really does mean no.
Apparently, that still wasn’t enough to convince the media – at least the Post - but the Arizona Senator’s appearance with the President in Washington, Nevada, and Arizona on Friday put the nail in the coffin of the bipartisan-ticket-story-of-the-century-media-lovefest.
Perhaps the only question remaining is whose “hopes” the Post was referring to in the opening of their article. My money’s on the Post itself.
The Senior Senator from Arizona has been largely ambiguous about the question up until now. If you don't count last month’s blanket denial ("I will not be vice president of the United States. I will not be a candidate. And I mean that.") on NBC's Meet the Press, or his rebuff ("I spent several years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States?") on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (scroll to the end).
The press has a responsibility to pursue stories, certainly – and even to push beyond any denials thrown their way. Some of the most famous stories in the annals of media have followed very public denials. The media’s fascination with a bipartisan Kerry-McCain ticket has been based on very few facts along the way, and Senator McCain’s continued refusals to entertain an offer for the VP spot have underscored the lack of corroboration.
Last week, the Kerry team, for reasons passing understanding, leaked the fact that the two Senators talked, essentially dancing around the issue and coming to the (wink, wink) understanding that McCain wasn’t kidding when he said he wouldn’t entertain Kerry’s advances. Even in politics – well, at least McCain’s special version - no really does mean no.
Apparently, that still wasn’t enough to convince the media – at least the Post - but the Arizona Senator’s appearance with the President in Washington, Nevada, and Arizona on Friday put the nail in the coffin of the bipartisan-ticket-story-of-the-century-media-lovefest.
Perhaps the only question remaining is whose “hopes” the Post was referring to in the opening of their article. My money’s on the Post itself.
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