It appears that somebody needs a time out

Stevie said that Bennie wasn't letting him in and that he was in the 'tankie poo'

A reporter asks the McCain campaign to back up some basic claims made by a senior strategist in a public conference call.

The campaign refuses, with a prominent spokesperson accusing the reporter, Ben Smith, of being "in the tank."

As in -- no, we don't have to justify what we say, and the fact that you would question our assertions is proof-positive that you've absorbed the Obama campaign's worldview.

Not only is that Addington-esque in its logic -- the spokesperson is PAID by one tank, so how can he possibly make that accusation credibly -- it's also immature (like throwing reporters off planes) and counterproductive. Maybe I'm in Ben Smith's tank for saying this.

Perhaps we can forgive the McCain campaign for this moment of irrationality; even as they've turned the press into a bugbear, the McCain campaign has managed to operate a functioning press office that answers reporters questions and its officials are generally helpful and polite.

The same officials who criticize reporters to our faces and behind our backs also help us understand policy, or get in touch with a campaign official, or explain the underpinnings of their tactics and strategems.

Here's hoping that today's outburst was an aberration and not a sign that the campaign will be shutting down its press shop for good.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/schmidt_blisters_new_york_time.php

Then Stevie got upset that those meanies up in New York beat him at 'tag your an idiot'

Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization.

"It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day, attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Gov. Palin and excuses Sen. Obama."

"There is no level of public vetting. There is no level of outrage ... let's not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is. Everything that is in the New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated from that perspective."

Schmidt's particular bill of complaints included the lack of scrutiny directed at Sen. Joe Biden's son Hunter, a lobbyist. The Times has covered the story, twice.

Then in the afternoon after Stevie had his milk and cookies he came and tattled on Politico

But Stevie just fibbed and fibbed

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13747.html

Sen. John McCain’s top campaign aides convened a conference call today to complain of being called “liars.” They pressed the media to scrutinize specific elements of Sen. Barack Obama’s record.

But the call was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may have had the opposite effect: to deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy.

The errors in McCain strategist Steve Schmidt’s charges against Obama and Sen. Joe Biden were particularly notable because they seemed unnecessary. Schmidt repeatedly gilded the lily: He exaggerated the Biden family's already problematic ties to the credit card industry; Obama’s embarrassing relationship with a 1960s radical; and an Obama supporter’s over-the-top attack on Sarah Palin when — in each case — the truth would have been damaging enough.