Another View of Barack

A candid assessment by the top guys at Politico, John Harris and Jim VandeHei, of why McCain is getting such bad press:

"Okay, let's just get this over with: Yes, in the closing weeks of this election, John McCain and Sarah Palin are getting hosed in the press, and at Politico . . .

"There have been moments in the general election when the one-sidedness of our site--when nearly every story was some variation on how poorly McCain was doing or how well Barack Obama was faring--has made us cringe . . . Our researcher Alex Burns pulled out his highlighter pen and did his own study of Politico's October stories last week. 110 stories advanced a narrative that was more favorable to Obama than McCain. Sixty-nine did the opposite . . .

"Responsible editors would be foolish not to ask themselves the bias question, especially in the closing days of an election. But, having asked it, our sincere answer is that of the factors driving coverage of this election -- and making it less enjoyable for McCain to read his daily clip file than for Obama -- ideological favoritism ranks virtually nil . . .

"Reporters obsess about personalities and process, about whose staff are jerks or whether they seem like decent folks, about who has a great stump speech or is funnier in person than they come off in public, about whether Michigan is in play or off the table. This is the flip side of the fact of how much we care about the horse race -- we don't care that much about our own opinions of which candidate would do more for world peace or tax cuts . . .

"McCain's decision to limit media access and align himself with the GOP conservative base was an entirely routine, strategic move for a presidential candidate. But much of the coverage has portrayed this as though it were an unconscionable sellout."

At Townhall, Matt Lewis isn't quite buying:

"That's fine, but it also seems to me that many -- if not most -- of the truly damaging stories about McCain have come from Politico. For example, I think they asked McCain how many houses he owns -- and also broke the story about Palin's clothes (which appears to be not exactly correct, anyway, since some of the clothes were returned, etc.). I've long wondered why the McCain campaign continues to grant them such access -- and even to help promote them. So I guess you could argue that -- by continuing to grant exclusive to Politico -- McCain DOES deserve negative press."

Why exactly is it unfair to report that the Republican Party, in its own finance reports, detailed $150K in clothing and makeup expenses?

As long as we're in personal confession mode, two L.A. Times scribes reflect on their time covering the nominees. Here's Peter Nicholas on Obama:

"Discipline is essential for candidates who want to drive home a consistent message, or avoid the self-sabotage that comes with a careless answer. A steely perseverance helps explain why Obama at this point stands a better than even chance of becoming the 44th president. But when you're exposed to the guy 18 hours a day, it's a bit maddening. You want him to loosen up.

"I've watched Obama demonstrate a soccer kick to his daughter in Chicago; devour a cheesesteak in Philly; navigate a roller rink in Indiana; drive a bumper car; and catapult 125 feet in the air on an amusement-park ride called 'Big Ben.' He's done it all with dogged professionalism, but with little show of spontaneity. After all this time with him, I still can't say with certainty who he is."