Goddammit... I need to start doing more diaries. The only ones I seem to do these days are attempts at voice-of-reason rebuttals to pieces by front pagers.
I posted a shorter version of this in the comments to the story by BarbinMD, which in turn was picked up from Atrios, but the comment is buried way down and I think bears repeating.
More below the fold.
The McCain interview with Newsweek ends as follows:
Want to back up a little bit and talk about press coverage. One of the things that you mentioned in your speech in New Orleans was that you felt that the media hadn't recognized or had overlooked some of the attributes that Hillary Clinton had brought to the race. And I wondered—
I did not [say that]—that was in prepared remarks, and I did not [say it]—I'm not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage ... My supporters and friends can comment all they want about the press coverage, and that's their right. They're American citizens. I will not because I believe it's not a profitable enterprise for me to do so. I can't change any of the coverage that I know of except to just campaign as hard as I can and try to seek the approval of the majority of my fellow citizens.
It is something that the American people will judge, and I won't complain about it and I won't praise it. I will just run my campaign and hope that the American people will make a judgment.
Oh em gee!!!! McCain says he didn't say it, but he did say it! Another bit of dissembling from the liar/senile old coot/prescription drug-induced amnesiac/PTSD-induced basket case!
Except, well, he didn't deny he said it. Newsweek added that part in themselves. Notice the square brackets around [say that]? That means those words were inserted by the reporters/editor, either to clarify the grammatic structure of the sentence or as a best guess when the audio is unclear.
Take out Newsweek's insert, and what you're left with is this:
I did not — that was in prepared remarks, and I did not — I'm not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage...
Suddenly it's less 'blatant lie' and more 'reaching for an explanation/justification/dodge for the comment in question'.
As I said in BarbinMD's comments, McCain is on record with enough lies without having to support the corporate media's usual crap when it happens to slant our way. Had Newsweek done something similar to Obama, we'd be calling for Holly Bailey and Jon Meacham to prove that he'd actually used those words, or to print a retraction. Or for Newsweek to fire their lying, biased, hacktastic asses. Or for us to boycott Newsweek. Etc etc.
I could launch into a "this election is about change, not just about reversing the old roles in a deeply flawed system" lecture here, but I think you get the idea. Schadenfreude is lovely, but I refuse to wallow in it this time.
We've got to hold the corporate media accountable for all their bullshit, not just the bullshit that works against the guy we like, or we won't get true change.
Update: Newsweek stands by their brackets, according to Politico.
Newsweek's Bailey said the McCain quote as included in their q-and-a posted online was verbatim.
Thanks to sangreal for pointing that out.
