A Penitent McCain Seeks Letterman’s Forgiveness
There was no way Sen. John McCain was going to miss this appointment.
Last month, he bailed out at the last minute on appearing on David Letterman’s late-night talk show, ostensibly to fly to Washington to save America from economic collapse. But before heading to Capitol Hill, he paid a visit to CBS’ Katie Couric and bummed around New York City for almost a day. The comedian spent a significant portion of the night McCain canceled castigating him and has lambasted McCain on subsequent nights.
Letterman’s bitter tongue-lashing generated torrents of bad press for the GOP presidential nominee. McCain responded by re-scheduling the appearance for today, when he is also in town to speak at the Al Smith charity dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
After appearing at a campaign rally in Downingtown, Pa., The Washington Post reports that McCain’s plane sat on the tarmac at the Philadelphia airport for nearly an hour before receiving news that an air traffic delay of two hours would prevent the plane from taking off. McCain wouldn’t keep his appointment with Letterman.
But rather than surrendering himself again to Letterman’s wrath — and several more news cycles in which Letterman’s wrath would be replayed on cable news networks — the McCain campaign booked a helicopter and choppered into New York. His media pool would have to be stay behind. Reporters then frantically called colleagues in New York to cover McCain when he landed.
The upside of this is that the fill-in print pooler, presumably not wanting to let down his colleagues in need, took copious notes of McCain’s interview with Letterman. From the pool report:
“„Mr. McCain jokingly said that he asked his son in the Marine Corps to FedEx his flak jacket in preparation for the visit.
“„Mr. Letterman immediately referenced the candidates’ abrupt cancellation last month. He asked: “So what happened?”
“„Mr. McCain answered: “I screwed up.” After the audience applauded, he continued, “Look at all the conversation I gave you. Including having Mr. Olbermann on.”
“„Mr. McCain added: “I haven’t had so much fun since my last interrogation.”
Letterman actually got in some pretty tough questions:
“„Asked by Mr. Letterman whether Sarah Palin was his “first choice” for vice president, Mr. McCain said “absolutely.” He added: “I didn’t know her well at all. I knew her reputation.”
“„Mr. Letterman pressed Mr. McCain on Palin’s preparation for the office of president, and asked whether she was “the woman to lead us thru the next 9/11 attack.”
“„“Absolutely,” she is, Mr. McCain said. “She has inspired Americans. That’s the thing we need.”
“„Mr. Letterman also asked if Palin had said that Sen. Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists.” Mr. McCain started to say he didn’t know, then said, “Yes. And he did.”
“„Then Mr. Letterman raised Mr. McCain’s relationship with G. Gordon Liddy. “I’ve met him,” Mr. McCain said. After a segment break, he followed up: “I know Gordon Liddy. He paid his debt, he went to prison, he paid his debt.”
This may be the first time McCain has been asked about his connection to Liddy, who was convicted and imprisoned for participating in the Watergate break-in –certainly the first since the McCain campaign started focusing on Obama’s ties to former Weatherman William Ayers. A scathing Op-Ed published in The Chicago Tribune raised the Liddy issue earlier this year:
“„How close are McCain and Liddy? At least as close as Obama and Ayers appear to be. In 1998, Liddy’s home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator’s campaigns — including $1,000 this year.
“„Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as “an old friend,” and McCain sounded like one. “I’m proud of you, I’m proud of your family,” he gushed. “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.”
“„Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn’t disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?
Perhaps Letterman mapped out a strategy for the Obama campaign to hit back if the Ayers thing every catches on.
You can see the interview tonight on CBS.
