- It's Saturday night. Politico posts an EXCLUSIVE!!! story by Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin trumpeting McCain's new tax plan:
As part of a plan to reinvigorate his flagging campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is considering additional economic measures aimed directly at the middle class that are likely to be rolled out this week, campaign officials said.
Among the measures being considered are tax cuts – perhaps temporary – for capital gains and dividends, the officials said.
- On Sunday morning, Think Progress (and Brad DeLong and others) hold their sides laughing at the notion that cuts on capital gains and dividends are aimed at the middle class. (And who's even got capital gains to claim of late, anyway?)
- It's still Sunday. According to Think Progress, Politico posts a new story, this one by Mike Allen only, and TP has the screenshot to prove it. What the screenshot says is:
POLITICO
Exclusive: McCain plans new tax cuts
By Mike Allen
October 12, 2008 05:30 PM EST
Grasping for a foothold on the economy, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to propose new tax cuts this week as part of an economic package designed to lure investors back to the stock market, campaign advisers said Sunday.
Sen. Lyndsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was helping plan the announcement at a meeting Sunday, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that McCain is planning "a very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy, by allowing capital to be formed easier in America by lowering taxes."
So now, according to Politico, the plan is not aimed at the middle class, but is "designed to lure investors back to the stock market." So far, so good.
- It's still Sunday, and the New York Times reports:
No New Economic Proposal Expected From McCain
WASHINGTON — Despite signals that Senator John McCain would have new prescriptions for the economic crisis after a weekend of meetings, his campaign said Sunday that Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, would not have any more proposals this week unless developments call for some.
- Monday morning, the link to the Politico story cited in step #3 above and shown as a screen shot at Think Progress now reads (with no indication of word changes, or any previous story as caught by the screenshot):
McCain abandons plan for new tax cuts
Presented with 30 options for new economic measures, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has – at least for now – chosen none of them.
Buried deep in the story is this one sentence:
Politico reported McCain advisers' descriptions of the plan in articles on Saturday and Sunday.
Got that? McCain had a new plan aimed at the middle class ... then, no, it was aimed at the investor class ... then, no, it disappeared and wasn't going to be rolled out at all. And somewhere in there, Politico replaced copy about a plan aimed at the investor class with the announcement of no plan at all. Next step:
- It's Monday morning, and Obama gives a kick-ass speech in Toledo that is brimming with specific economic proposals:
TOLEDO — Senator Barack Obama on Monday expanded his economic platform, including proposals to spur new jobs, to give Americans penalty-free access to retirement savings to help them through the downturn, to urge a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures and to lend money to strapped local and state governments.
- Monday afternoon, Politico's Ben Smith reports:
My colleague Victoria McGrane reports, however, that McCain advisors now promise he'll have new economic plans tomorrow.
Sigh. So now McCain will have a plan--tomorrow, mind you--when a few hours ago he had none. It's like magic! Right after Obama rolls out a plan, abracadabra! McCain announces he has one too! This feels like campaigning by younger irritating sibling in the back seat on a long cross-country car ride screaming Me too! Me too! Me too!
And what game Politico is up to in all this, who knows. My guess is, it's just sloppiness. The first two stories were being hawked as "exclusives' (including the disappearing one), and read more like talking points from the McCain campaign than real news (seriously, they didn't catch that capital gains and dividend tax cuts are not exactly a pitch to the middle class?). The Mike Allen piece that announced that ... well ... there was to be no announcement because there was no plan, was not pitched as an exclusive. Look, if Politico's being jerked around, they need to report it. That's a story in itself. But if they're simply trying to play "I got McCain's Fairyland Economic Plan First!" and are getting high on the exclusive bullshit access games, they're tools.
And at the very least, they need to learn the etiquette of the internet and truly update material instead of removing it, so we can all see what's happening, what's been said, what's been revised. That kind of archived documentation of evolving stories is one of the most important aspects of this medium. Because otherwise, it looks like they're part of Team Spin instead of being stuck out here with the rest of us on Team Spun.