The Hotline
The divorce was finalized two weeks ago. McCain got his Iraq speech; the media kept their '00 memories. McCain's new flame: the conservative press. -- In '00, McCain could joke about anything, and the media lapped it up. Knowing that beneath the jokey mien was a sober guy who spent 5 years in a Vietnamese prison made his cracks seem like trifles. Besides, McCain was "spontaneous" where Bush was "programmed," right? -- Thanks to a (Romney?) tracker's video and a quick e-mail to Drudge, "Bomb Bomb Iran" was everywhere 4/19. The MSM was skeptical. NBC called it a "controversy." The conservative press (Fox News this a.m.) laughed it off. -- McCain's camp uses every MSM/liberal attack to court GOP primary voters. And it works. The press corps, 7 years older, is full of reporters who've never taken the Straight Talk Express. Those who have are bending over backwards to prove they're not giving McCain a pass. -- Should the media move on and "get a life?" Maybe. But as McCain himself has said, '08's a much more serious time than '00. Are the standards, for everyone, different?Instapundit
MCCAIN TO CRITICS: "Get a life." Is it just me, or has he started to enjoy himself on the trail again?Jason Zengerle