GraniteGrok

The page one hit piece the Washington Post put forth in today's Sunday edition about Senator McCain's temper was yet one more example of the biased reporting we have all come to expect from such mainstream media organs. Well, except that even for them, this most recent blatant reach for a reason to print something negative about Senator McCain seemed even more outrageous than usual. It's so bad that it caused Hugh Hewitt, writing at TownHall.com, to note

Perhaps the ongoing meltdown in the Democratic Party has demoralized the partisans inside the Post, or perhaps it is a just a very slow news cycle for reporters assigned to cover John McCain. … But Michael Leahy's page 1 "McCain: A Question of Temperament" is going to be an exhibit in the museum of media bias and agenda journalism for a long time.

That's pretty bad when you consider the mountains of such dung that exist out there. Red State's Soren Dayton sums it up rather nicely:

Is there really a story here, much less a front page story? And if not, what does it tell us about the Washington Post? So let's review the facts in the story. First, there is an argument with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) from 1992! Wow. That one was racing to get out.

Then there's a story from McCain's high school years. 1954, 1989, "the early 90s", 1982, and a couple more from early on. Oh, and there were two widely reported stories from 2006 and 2007.

Perhaps tellingly, Leahy says, "According to aides, McCain's frequent comments about his temperament reflect a recognition that the issue persists for some voters and the media." The media wants to tell a story about John McCain... But there's not news to tell.

So they might as well create some, I guess.

On a side note, today's story had a bit of a local flavor for us here in the Granite State, as one of our former politicians was among those featured:

Former senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican, expresses worries about McCain: "His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him."

Who cares what he thinks about ANYTHING? It is no secret that there has long been no love lost between the two. While the story includes a recounting of a particular run-in between them, it's my understanding that it might not be at all accurate. Bob Smith is a has-been who long ago lost his way. After cozying up to the environmental wackos in the last year of his Senate term in some crazy effort to win their votes (in a race against Jeanne Shaheen?!), he lost the primary (thankfully) to John E. Sununu, skulking away to Florida where we didn't hear much from him (again, thankfully) until he resurfaced to endorse... JOHN KERRY for president in 2004! You'd think that the friends of a guy that's so obviously lost his marbles would somehow find a way to politely tell him to put a cork in it...

Oh, and the bit of calling him a "New Hampshire Republican"-- I don't think that's true. I'm pretty sure he's still in Florida someplace selling used cars or something...

[UPDATE] Fox News has picked up on the Bob Smith angle. Youtube here.