Obama ‘versus’ the press — I disagree with Washington Monthly

Flies, honey and vinegar come to mind

On CBS News’ blogs page, Dean Reynolds says the Obama campaign could be more press-friendly, especially compared to that of McCain.

Over at Washington Monthly, Steve Benen essentially tells Reynolds to get off the wahhmbulance.

As I told Benen, I basically disagree with his take:

As someone who makes his living in the press as a day job (albeit at a non-daily outlet), I can say it is fairly, but not incredibly, dumb for Reynolds to throw in the personal/CBS corporate whine part of this.

That said, I'll assume Reynolds wrote this only after talking with Obama campaign staff once if not more than once. And, so, the rest of the blog isn't that dumb at all.

And, that said, if the complaint is not limited to Reynolds -- just that he's the only one to speak up -- it's equally stupid of the Obama campaign to not be more accommodating.

Given the way the current occupant of the WH has stiffed the press for nearly than eight years, it's not just stupid, it is a matter for a bit of concern.

Beyond that, does this reflect a larger degree of disorganization, or flying by the seat of one’s pants? Or, is it a tone-deafness to PR/marketing angles?

And, even if my assumptions about how much Reynolds talked to Obama’s staff are wrong, surely he’s not the only reporter to shuffle back and forth between campaigns and be in a position to draw comparisons.

Call the wahhmbulance for Brett Favre

And also for ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski who sounds more and more all the time like he has a marketing contract with Favre, Inc.

The idea that this is all the Pack’s fault is ridiculous. Brett was counting on the court of public relations to force the Pack to start him, Aaron Rodgers be damned.

Favre’s shaky 2005 and 2006 be damned.

Favre’s shaky final quarter of 2007 be damned.

(None of which has ever crossed Wojo’s lips or keyboard.)

Mike Silver, on the other hand, gets the story right.

And more right.

Once again, call the wahhmbulance for Sergio

It’s just not his fault he didn’t win the PGA, he insists:

“There’s guys that get a little bit fortunate,” Garcia said. “They get in contention in a major and manage to get things going their way. And unfortunately, it hasn’t happened to me. I feel like I played well enough to win probably more than two majors throughout my career.”

Hmm, could have sworn you were skilled fortunate enough to have a 4-foot birdie putt on 17, six feet closer than Harrington.

Down the stretch, yesterday, particularly on 16 and 17, nope, you didn’t quite play well enough. Dunking your second at 16 certainly didn’t help.

And, one of the oldest clichés of golf is that you manufacture your own breaks.

Cindy McCain makes out like a bandit on Bud-InBev deal

I joked about this yesterday in comments to a post at Washington Monthly, but it’s the real deal!

John McCain’s wife owns $2.5-5 million of A-B stock in addition to being heir to the nation’s third-largest Budweiser distributorship.

The stock has gained almost 50 percent from a February low of $47 to $67 Monday, with InBev’s final offer of $70. So, if Cindy McCain owned “just” $2.5 mil, she just cleared a cool $800,000. If her holdings are at the top of that range, she just gained $1.6 million.

Meanwhile, can Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill get off the wahhmbulance over the deal? It’s not primarily a weak dollar. It’s an underperforming company with crony capitalism management.

Beyond that, get off the hypocrisy of both dollar patriotism, and political exploitation.