Aides believe that doing so makes Mr. McCain less likely to be the subject of what they call “gotcha” journalism, and not merely because he tries to develop a rapport with journalists, whom he has jokingly called “my base.” They believe that giving journalists access to the candidate, and the chance to hear about his positions at length, will make them less likely to jump on statements taken out of context.
That seemed to be borne out last week, when Mr. McCain briefly tripped over the name of the new Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev. Reporters, who have been known to quiz candidates on the names of foreign leaders, did not pounce.
Ana Marie Cox:
KURTZ: You've spent a lot of time with McCain. He spends hours and hours answering reporters' questions.
COX: It's worth pointing out that Bumiller is actually relatively new to the campaign.
KURTZ: Right. Is there a downside to his policy of nearly unlimited media access?
COX: Well, you just saw it. It's true that he can -- especially -- it's almost always someone who has not -- who hasn't been with the campaign, you know, through it all that's going to make a call that makes him look bad. I remember the lightsaber moment from 2000. That was from someone -- when he said he was going to be -- you know, fight Darth Vader.
KURTZ: But that suggests that the people who have been traveling with him regularly...
COX: Yes.
KURTZ: ... become part of the bubble, part of the team?
COX: Become part of the bubble, and also, I mean, I think what happens is that you -- if you've been covering him for a long time, there's a sense that, well, he does that all the time, it's not worth reporting, because he does -- he's a cranky old man. I mean, to be quite frank.
You know, like, and also, I've gotten much tougher terseness than Bumiller got just there. And...
KURTZ: But the cameras weren't rolling.
COX: But the cameras weren't rolling. And also, we wrote it off to, like, you know, he hadn't had his fifth cup of Starbucks today.
Ah, journalism.