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The Implications of "Deference"
Sep. 7th, 2008 05:18 pmToday, Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain told Chris Wallace of Fox News that:
I am both amused and aghast at this. What is she, the Queen, that the press must give her deference?
But Mike Graves, a libertarian and the friend of a friend of mine, had a more pragmatic concern which he expressed thusly:
WALLACE: It's been more than three weeks since President McCain has had a press conference. With the coup in Pakistan two weeks ago and the reports of more than 10,000 killed in intense fighting in three different regions of Pakistan, including reports of American planes, helicopters and the display of what look to be the recovered bodies of American soldiers, do you believe the President owes the American people answers to questions he wasn't willing to give in his address to the nation a week ago yesterday.
DAVIS (Now Press Secretary): The President has not been satisfied with the objectivity of the press on this issue...
WALLACE: But doesn't he have an obligation to answer questions at some point on these developments?
DAVIS: The press doesn't determine the timing or content of the President's communications, the President does that.
WALLACE: Can you at least provide some criterion for what the President expects in terms of 'objectivity' before he will agree to answer questions from the press?
DAVIS: I don't have a fixed test or measure to give you, but I will say that the press frenzy over the past weeks has been far from satisfactory to the President.
WALLACE: We received unsubstantiated reports last night that another carrier group has been dispatched to the Indian Ocean, where it would be deployed if it were needed in support of more intensive military operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Can you provide any information on this report?
DAVIS: The President is in constant consultation with the theater commander, and will present himself to the American people when events warrant.
WALLACE: That sounds like it may be another address, no questions...
DAVIS: As I said, that will happen at the discretion of the President.
WALLACE: So you can't give us an expectation for the President or his representatives to field questions on what has in less than a month become a violent, bloody war in Pakistan, possibly involving large numbers of US forces?
DAVIS: No.
********
The white text is real. The red one is a fictional interview. McCain is not yet President.
McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself to any tough questions from reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."
So when will she subject herself to questions?
"When we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it," Davis said, praising a Fox News Channel profile of Palin that ran last night.
Why is she scared of answering questions? Wallace asked.
"She's not scared to answer questions," Davis said, "but you know what? We run our campaign not the news media."
Wallace said inappropriate intrusions into Palin's family and personal life aside, there are legitimate questions about whether she is prepared to be vice president.
"Sarah Palin will have the opportinity to speak to the American people," Davis said. "She will do interviews, but she'll do them on the terms and conditions" the campaign decides.
I am both amused and aghast at this. What is she, the Queen, that the press must give her deference?
But Mike Graves, a libertarian and the friend of a friend of mine, had a more pragmatic concern which he expressed thusly:
WALLACE: It's been more than three weeks since President McCain has had a press conference. With the coup in Pakistan two weeks ago and the reports of more than 10,000 killed in intense fighting in three different regions of Pakistan, including reports of American planes, helicopters and the display of what look to be the recovered bodies of American soldiers, do you believe the President owes the American people answers to questions he wasn't willing to give in his address to the nation a week ago yesterday.
DAVIS (Now Press Secretary): The President has not been satisfied with the objectivity of the press on this issue...
WALLACE: But doesn't he have an obligation to answer questions at some point on these developments?
DAVIS: The press doesn't determine the timing or content of the President's communications, the President does that.
WALLACE: Can you at least provide some criterion for what the President expects in terms of 'objectivity' before he will agree to answer questions from the press?
DAVIS: I don't have a fixed test or measure to give you, but I will say that the press frenzy over the past weeks has been far from satisfactory to the President.
WALLACE: We received unsubstantiated reports last night that another carrier group has been dispatched to the Indian Ocean, where it would be deployed if it were needed in support of more intensive military operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Can you provide any information on this report?
DAVIS: The President is in constant consultation with the theater commander, and will present himself to the American people when events warrant.
WALLACE: That sounds like it may be another address, no questions...
DAVIS: As I said, that will happen at the discretion of the President.
WALLACE: So you can't give us an expectation for the President or his representatives to field questions on what has in less than a month become a violent, bloody war in Pakistan, possibly involving large numbers of US forces?
DAVIS: No.
********
The white text is real. The red one is a fictional interview. McCain is not yet President.
