Medved, McCain and Me

A few days ago, Michael Medved had Senator John McCain as a guest on his radio show. I got through to the call screener and blathered something about "Why was Senator McCain keeping his hometown reporters from the Arizona Republic off of the 'Straight Talk Express' bus? Was he miffed at them for reporting correctly about his wife's mental health challenges?" I was really shot-gunning at that point and I was politely declined.

As the hour went on, I gathered my thoughts. I was really surprised at how tepid Michael's interview was. My goodness! He kept lobbing softballs to the guy! I tried again to get through. This time, I asked an innocuous, but better question. Senator, as a member of a 100 member body, you have a lot of legislative experience. Tell me what executive experience you've ever had that would rival some of the other potential Republican presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee, George Allen or Mitt Romney? That's what I would have asked had the hour not run out.

On disagreement day [Thursday], I got through and asked Michael why he handled McCain so gingerly? First off: he acknowledged that he had given the Senator a fluffy interview. He wanted to assist the senator in repairing rifts with the republican religious right whom he had angered during the 2000 presidential election. Fair enough. It is, after all, Medved's show.