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We saw the Republicans scorn the news media at their national convention. We saw the crowd at a Sarah Palin rally this week yell at the news media. Peter Nicholas, who covers presidential campaigns for the LA TImes, just filed this interesting post on the Times's Top of the Ticket blog about the traveling press's lack of access to John McCain on Straight Talk Air:
"An opaque brown curtain separates McCain from the traveling press corps. It remained closed through most of the flight this morning from Nashville to Allentown, Pa. A flight attendant opened it during descent.
"At no point was McCain visible. His motorcade dropped him near the front of the plane on the rainy tarmac in Nashville. McCain boarded and spent the rest of the flight in his front cabin.
"By contrast, on Air Obama the Democratic nominee is separated from the press corps by a see-through curtain. Obama doesn’t often come back to the plane's press section, but by craning your neck you can often catch a glimpse of him in the front rows. Such is what passes for access in the 2008 presidential race.
"Is the McCain curtain ever open mid-flight?
“'Never," an aide said.
"If McCain wasn’t in evidence, his daughter, Meghan, pierced the curtain briefly to schmooze with a few reporters. She took up a position between life-sized cardboard cutouts of her father and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
"One member of the news media did get access to McCain en route to the Pennsylvania stop. About 30 minutes into the flight, top McCain aide Steve Schmidt appeared and waved to conservative talk show host Sean Hannity.
"Hannity came up, passed through the curtain and disappeared into McCain-land."
"An opaque brown curtain separates McCain from the traveling press corps. It remained closed through most of the flight this morning from Nashville to Allentown, Pa. A flight attendant opened it during descent.
"At no point was McCain visible. His motorcade dropped him near the front of the plane on the rainy tarmac in Nashville. McCain boarded and spent the rest of the flight in his front cabin.
"By contrast, on Air Obama the Democratic nominee is separated from the press corps by a see-through curtain. Obama doesn’t often come back to the plane's press section, but by craning your neck you can often catch a glimpse of him in the front rows. Such is what passes for access in the 2008 presidential race.
"Is the McCain curtain ever open mid-flight?
“'Never," an aide said.
"If McCain wasn’t in evidence, his daughter, Meghan, pierced the curtain briefly to schmooze with a few reporters. She took up a position between life-sized cardboard cutouts of her father and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
"One member of the news media did get access to McCain en route to the Pennsylvania stop. About 30 minutes into the flight, top McCain aide Steve Schmidt appeared and waved to conservative talk show host Sean Hannity.
"Hannity came up, passed through the curtain and disappeared into McCain-land."