News Round-Up: Sorry, Johnny Boy...

Lots of news today; I can't move without bumping into a new McCain story, it feels like. Two points for getting the media to watch your every move, but neg points for GETTING THEM TO HATE YOU.

Huffington Post, John Dinges: McCain's Private Visit With Chilean Dictator Pinochet Revealed For First Time

John McCain, who has harshly criticized the idea of sitting down with dictators without pre-conditions, appears to have done just that. In 1985, McCain traveled to Chile for a friendly meeting with Chile's military ruler, General Augusto Pinochet, one of the world's most notorious violators of human rights credited with killing more than 3,000 civilians and jailing tens of thousands of others.

The private meeting between McCain and dictator Pinochet has gone previously un-reported anywhere.

New York Times, Political Memo: In McCain’s Uphill Battle, Winning Is an Option

Mr. McCain’s advisers said the key to victory was reeling back those Republican states where Mr. Obama has them on the run: Florida, where Mr. McCain spent Thursday; Indiana; Missouri; North Carolina; Ohio; and Virginia. If he can hang on to all those states as well as others that are reliably red, he would put into his column 260 of the 270 electoral votes necessary to win. Mr. McCain’s advisers said they would look for the additional electoral votes they need either by taking Pennsylvania from the Democrats, or putting together some combination of Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire and New Mexico.

Mr. McCain’s advisers are most concerned about Virginia, and understandably so. On the other side of the coin, Mr. McCain’s advisers believe that if he wins or comes close in Pennsylvania, he will probably win in Ohio and Florida. Aides to Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama agree that Mr. McCain remains very much in the game in Ohio and Florida. Not easy, but not impossible either.

NY Observer, The Sarah Palin Show? 'Americans Just Want to be Entertained,' Says Tina Brown

But did Ms. Palin have something else on her mind when she invited the former Survivor contestant to join her this weekend? It seems she may have been looking for career advice. The Hollywood Reporter floated the idea of some version of The Sarah Palin Show to a handful of TV types and it seems that at least a few of them think that, if running-mate John McCain loses the race, the Alaska governor could have her second act on the small screen.

Daily Mail, McCain under strain: tired candidate makes trio of slip-ups and stays behind in polls

As his gruelling two-year campaign enters its final week, John McCain is showing signs of fatigue, making three gaffes in the last 48 hours.

The Republican presidential candidate made a major boob when he effectively agreed with the sentiment that people from Western Pennsylvania were racist.

The blunder came when he spoke to an audience in the region. He said: 'You know, I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. And you know, I couldn't agree with them more.'

Oh, and just for kicks, Jon Stewart to Sarah: No, ma'am.

McCain Rally in Woodbridge

Here, if you've got nothing better to do, check out what you missed in Woodbridge.



Apparently Tina Fey is now a target at these things, as CBS let me know. Did anyone see the Palin skit last night? Did you think it sucked as much as I did? Although I have to say, the Amy Poehler rap during Weekend Update made me laugh, but so did Mark Wahlberg and that's saying a lot. SNL, my hopes were so high... ya let me down, once again. Live, from New York, it's... anti-climactic. (That's what she said?)

So Why Do We Care About Joe the Plumber?

Honestly, I really don't care about Joe the Plumber. You know why? He doesn't care about me, and he is not the emblem of the American public. America is diverse, remember? We've got ALL KINDS of jobs, and variations on the name "Joe," and beliefs and incomes and needs, and if he deserves this much media attention than those news stations should be calling me, too, dammit. He's a symbol of how the conversation about what America is and how her needs have changed from what they were in the past. He's rhetoric. A bad metaphor.

As Daily Intel can tell us, the symbolism isn't entirely accurate, either:

Our plumbers are not beefy dudes who chase the American dream in between games of catch with their sons on the front lawn. They're too busy going to law school and black-tie events at the New York Public Library. They quote Einstein. They are ironic (“If you don’t go to high school, guess what you become?”) and media-savvy (“Joe the Plumber here," one answered the Times call, totally unbidden). They are, in short, as fey and liberal and candy-ass as everything else in this epicenter of blue-state liberal values. Which begs the question: If John McCain does win the election thanks to his populist pap, will he take care of them, as he promised to take care of Joe? No plumbers left behind, John.

I don't know if John McCain or Barack Obama were pretending to be unaware of the savage media storm this Plumber guy would create, but my bet is HELL NO. McCain is really good at creating temporary media storms. He knows how to play the media to get where he needs to be, even though it's not always successful; he knows how to capture their attention, even when he's trying to get them to stay the hell away. By putting up the "no cameras allowed" sign, he knows those cameras will be there to take pictures of it. Touche, Johnny. The problem is, the media doesn't like you much. That's partially your fault.

Obama, however, is the media's friend and also is too cool for them. He goes straight to the people, gets in my inbox, on my cell phone, on my TV, in my video games. Obama is harnessing the power of new media and technology to play the game in a whole different way, and I have to give him props, even though the only reason he CAN do it is that he has a LOT OF MONEY. Money pays people to think for you and it pays for their ideas to come to fruition. Touche, Barack. It's a little evil, it reeks of PR genius, but you've pulled it off and you're dignified throughout.

McCain may be able to create media storms, but he loses control of them just as quickly, and this Joe-thing is a perfect example. John, you haven't exactly been a friend to the newsroom, so the second you start whipping up attention about some guy you talked to for about 5 minutes (or some girl you vetted days before you chose her to be your running mate *COUGH*), the media will start Googling. And Googling. And making phone calls. And finding out who these people really are. And it might not reflect well on you or your intentions. Maybe it's time to start hiring some better PR.

-Katie