McCain campaign protests NBC coverage

By Rick Moran

One might ask what took them so long. It's been months since Chris Matthews blubbered about Obama being the greatest thing since sliced bread and talking about the thrill up his leg when hearing him speak. And when was the last night Keith Olberman did a show where he didn't proclaim Obama a god?

But it is in the real news department that the campaign is complaining about bias - specifically Andrea Mitchell and her curious propensity to parrot Obama talking points about Republicans:

In this case, the campaign is objecting to a statement by NBC's Andrea Mitchell on "Meet the Press" questioning whether McCain might have gotten a heads-up on some of the questions that were asked of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who was the first candidate to be interviewed Saturday night by Pastor Rick Warren at a presidential forum on faith.

Warren told the audience that McCain was being held in "a cone of silence" so he wouldn't hear the questions, which were similar for both candidates.

Warren referred again to "the cone of silence" when McCain came onstage, and the senator joked: "I was trying to hear through the wall."

Mitchell reported that some "Obama people" were suggesting "that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama. He seemed so well prepared."

A McCain aide said that is not the case: "Senator McCain was in a motorcade led by the United States Secret Service and held in a green room with no broadcast feed."

Mitchell made the comment in the context of saying McCain did better, and that the Obama camp was defensive. In response to the campaign's letter, she pointed out that journalists get criticism from both sides.

"I wasn't expressing an opinion," Mitchell said. "I was reporting what they were saying."

That may have been what you were doing, Andrea, but that's not what came across on the Telly - especially your remark "He seemed so well prepared." That was indeed your opinion and you cleverly tied it to the Obama claim that McCain was listening to the broadcast.

No matter. This complaint will not make much impact. When reporters and editors are convinced they aren't biased despite evidence right in front of their nose, there isn't much you can do.