# McCain Cancels Larry King Interview because Campbell Brown spanked his buttboy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 3, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814 "2008-09-03T04:15:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/41 "2008-09-03T10:46:09Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > Do you believe that the questions Campbell Brown asked of Bounds about the experience issue as a whole and Palin’s experience as National Guard commander were unfair to ask? > > Why or why not? The questions about Palin’s daughter were unfair; she was essentially asking if Sarah Palin is a bad mother. The other questions were fair, but the tone was argumentative, suspicious, and exasperated. Examples, in the link that **Lance Turbo** posted. . . 4:30 – drops the ‘some people have argued’ pretense, says: “. . . what I’m saying is, that you [Republicans] set a different standard. . .” 4:40 – again personally adopts the argument: “I’m just trying to get someone from the campaign to answer me. . .” 4:52 – aggressive, bewildered look, shoulder shrug 5:45 – exasperated grin, exaggerated shoulder-shrug – Throughout the interview, she refers to Republicans as “you guys.” (If someone can provide video of her referring to Democrats the same way while pressing them to rebut an argument, I’ll accept the phrase as just part of her professional speech patterns; it is a possibility.) It’s just not the tone of professional, non-partisan news anchor. If you really don’t see it then there’s nothing I can say to convince you, but do you think that a Jim Lehrer or Bernard Shaw would have their incredulousness written all over their faces during an interview? Granted, the guest wasn’t addressing most questions directly, which probably affected the tone of the interview. (Of course, why have that kind of guest on if you want direct, un-canned responses? That’s all they’re allowed to give, and the networks know it.) ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/42 "2008-09-03T10:54:40Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Well, to be fair, after [James “Ragin’ Cajun” Carville took Michele Bachmann behind the woodshed on the King show and spanked her soundly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RALnyUSj_gY) over Gov Palin’s “experience” I can see why McCain might be a little scared shitless to get anywhere near the show. Holy mother, is Michele Bachmann scary in that clip. She has the dead-eyed smile of a Phelps family member. Best not to watch a video featuring her and CryptKeeper Carville right before going to bed. Yeah, that’s my totally brilliant political commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/43 "2008-09-03T11:16:03Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > Granted, the guest wasn’t addressing most questions directly, which probably affected the tone of the interview. (Of course, why have that kind of guest on if you want direct, un-canned responses? That’s all they’re allowed to give, and the networks know it.) You lost me here. She’s not allowed to get frustrated when he doesn’t answer a direct question because he’s working for a political campaign? Fuck off. Campbell Brown asked a direct question about a double standard when it comes to experience and he tried to dodge it. She called him on it, and he kept evading. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/44 "2008-09-03T11:22:52Z")
She can press for a direct answer. That’s not what I’m complaining about – it’s the way in which she did it, and the attitude she expressed towards the Republicans’ _arguments_, not just this spokesman’s evasiveness. The parenthetical of mine that you quoted isn’t meant to argue that she can’t show frustration with this kind of guest, just that this kind of guest is fucking lousy. I hate when networks have on party spokesmen or “strategists.” They’re permitted to be neither honest nor original. What’s the point? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/45 "2008-09-03T11:29:19Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It is an example of McCain’s maverick and courageous nature to be taking on the media like this Whining like a colicky toddler demonstrates a “maverick and courageous nature”? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/46 "2008-09-03T11:31:55Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > She can press for a direct answer. That’s not what I’m complaining about – it’s the way in which she did it, and the attitude she expressed towards the Republicans’ _arguments_, not just this spokesman’s evasiveness. If John McCain has said that Barack Obama isn’t experienced enough to become president, that he is going to choose a vice president that can take the job on day one, and chooses the thin resumed Sarah Palin to be that person, he’d better be prepared to explain why it isn’t a double standard. > [@](#): > > The parenthetical of mine that you quoted isn’t meant to argue that she can’t show frustration with this kind of guest, just that this kind of guest is fucking lousy. I hate when networks have on party spokesmen or “strategists.” They’re permitted to be neither honest nor original. What’s the point? Because at the least, the answers they have are going to be the answers the campaign told them to have. Apparently the McCain campaign isn’t ready to answer the experience question yet or they haven’t prepped their staff enough to answer questions. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/47 "2008-09-03T11:32:29Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > In my opinion she wasn’t really that out line. Bounds would not answer the question. > > 1. She asked a question about Palin. > 2. He started talking about McCain. > 3. She interrupted to reask a question about Palin. > 4. He started talking about Obama. > 5. She interrupts again to ask about Palin. Is that when he started talking about Chewbacca? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/48 "2008-09-03T11:37:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And, as we all know, the only reason the media is going after this issue so strongly is because of their desire to discredit the Republican candidates. Palin’s pregnant 17-year-old daughter is no more germane to Palin’s suitability for office than Cheney’s gay daughter is to his, yet where was the media scrutinizing the impact of having an openly gay daughter on Cheney’s ability to carry out his duties? I agree with you that the media coverage of Palin’s daughter has been pretty despicable. Like it wouldn’t be difficult enough to be a pregnant 17-year-old without it being splashed all over the headlines. However, these two things are not comparable. Cheney having a gay daughter is not a reflection on his skills or the decisions he made as a parent, whereas Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy _could potentially_ be as a result of her parenting. But I doubt it. I think it’s weirder how they’re announcing that this girl is going to marry the baby’s father. It feels very forced and creepy and makes me think worse of Palin than the whole pregnant daughter thing. I feel really bad for these kids and I hope they manage to somehow avoid what seems like a shotgun wedding, at least until they’re a little older than seventeen. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/49 "2008-09-03T11:52:11Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > If John McCain has said that Barack Obama isn’t experienced enough to become president, that he is going to choose a vice president that can take the job on day one, and chooses the thin resumed Sarah Palin to be that person, he’d better be prepared to explain why it isn’t a double standard. Sure, but there’s a world of difference between “Is that not a different standard?” and “I’m saying that you are setting a different standard,” especially when the latter line of question is conducted with facial expressions and body language that make the anchor’s opinion about the argument obvious. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/50 "2008-09-03T11:59:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And I’d be willing to bet that if it had been Hillary Clinton, she would have sat there with a huge shit-eating grin on her face, bobbing her head up and down enthusiastically and smiling approvingly at everything Hillary said (with the possible exception of some softball ‘hard’ question in an attempt to give her deniability to accusations of bias). > > . I first took note of Campbell Brown during the primaries when she treated Hillary in the same fashion as she just did with Tucker while swooning over Obama. SNL did a skit on that as I recall. I can’t stand the woman. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/51 "2008-09-03T12:23:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Whining like a colicky toddler demonstrates a “maverick and courageous nature”? :rolleyes: Anything that McCain does is, by definition, maverick-y and courageous. It’s on his business card and stuff. Did you know he was a POW? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/52 "2008-09-03T12:30:20Z")
You know, I’ve had the night to think about this, and I’m beginning to see the bias. In favor of McCain. His campaign has been making the claim that Obama is not qualified to be president. Campbell Brown repeats their talking point for them! Then she asks how Sarah Palin is better qualified than Obama. That should have been a softball question. If Palin had any experience to talk about, that spokesman would have knocked it out of the park. Damn conservative bias in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/53 "2008-09-03T12:41:19Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > However, these two things are not comparable. Cheney having a gay daughter is not a reflection on his skills or the decisions he made as a parent, whereas Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy _could potentially_ be as a result of her parenting. Or, more likely, it’s a reflection of the effectiveness of the “abstinence only” sex-ed programs that Palin supports. And her support for abstinence only education is a legitimate topic for questioning, as is the effectiveness of said program. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/54 "2008-09-03T12:56:44Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > Granted, the guest wasn’t addressing most questions directly, which probably affected the tone of the interview. (Of course, why have that kind of guest on if you want direct, un-canned responses? That’s all they’re allowed to give, and the networks know it.) Ah, well in that case, I commend Brown’s courageous and maverick decision to fight the system, and show those politicos that we the people will not stand for avoidance and bullet points any more. She’s a lot like McCain in that way, I guess . . . 😉 (I agree that Palin’s daughter’s private life on the news is disgusting, but I also hate hate hate anyone who is being interviewed and thinks that it’s just free commercial time. If you don’t want to answer questions, take out an ad instead, but don’t act all huffy when a reporter hounds you on a question that not only will you not answer, but you won’t even admit to not answering) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/55 "2008-09-03T13:04:39Z")
And… once again the Republicans show that they can dish it out, but not take it. Could Campbell have kept her aggravation more to herself? Probably. But Wanker dude wasn’t answering the question. ANSWER the damned question and you might get better treatment. AFAIK, Campbell Brown has nothing to do with the crawl content-to make it seem like this was all a big plot to make Palin look bad is ridiculous. Some of that crawl dealt with EU news. For McCain to cancel an interview (with Larry King–the class clown of “journalism”–it doesn’t get softer than him!) shows a disturbing Bill O’Reilly trait I had not previously noticed. Just what we need–a hothead, knee jerk president. (oh, I mean ANOTHER one)… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/56 "2008-09-03T13:12:15Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You guys have virtually all of Hollywood, the university system, print journalism, magazines, major newspapers, and television news programs promoting your side, and yet you scream bloody murder about Fox. Ooh, I haven’t heard this one in years. Let me see if I can remember how it goes… “Only fringe groups like Democrats. Apart from the media, celebrities, academia, city dwellers, teachers, unions, teachers unions, environmentalists, young people, blue-staters, peaceniks, and minorities, all Real Americans like Republicans.” Is that it? ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/57 "2008-09-03T13:29:50Z")
I’m not going to add to the BS about bias in the media, there most certainly is bias in the media from both sides based on which media source one chooses. And, sometimes, based on our personal insight we may read bias one way or the other from a neutral source. Not that I’m saying last night’s interview was neutral. However, to \*\*Starving Artist \*\*and anyone else who may wish to use this interview as a launch pad for media bias I gotta tell ya, you picked the wrong horse in this race. I believe the experience question was valid and insightfull but the answer was severly lacking. Tucker Bounds was waffling more than all the IHOPs in the midwest. He was dancing around more than Richard Simmons in Sweatin to the Oldies. He was sweatin like a whor… naa, that’s too cliche. He was spinning like the space station in 2001 A Space Oddesy, with enough force to create his own gravity. He was dodging more bullets than Osama Bin Ladin before we went to Iraq. He was avoiding the question like it had herpies and he was all hopped up on Cialis. I just wish he had answered the damned question. Glenn Beck answered it about a half hour later and he wasn’t even asked it. Beck was able to intelligently use data with sources and cites to at least somewhat rebuke the experience issue without letting himself get caught up in the National Guard quagmire because let’s face it, although a Governer is CIC of the state’s National Guard it is a point and click position, a turn key operation where the Governer makes the authorization to depoly and the Guard takes it from there. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/58 "2008-09-03T13:31:29Z")
> [@Myrnalene](#): > > Holy mother, is Michele Bachmann scary in that clip. She has the dead-eyed smile of a Phelps family member. Best not to watch a video featuring her and CryptKeeper Carville right before going to bed. > > Yeah, that’s my totally brilliant political commentary. It looks almost like blinking her eyes doesn’t come automatically for her and she has to really think about it. Also, when she’s not talking, her head gets really, really still in order to conserve energy and preserve that creepy smile. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/59 "2008-09-03T14:01:56Z")
The biggest problem with that interview was that Campbell Brown was _wrong_. She asked him to name some way in which the Governor commands the National Guard. Tucker started to say, “She has to set the budget to determine how to equip them, and she has to decide to deploy them…” And Brown interrupted with a smug look on her face and said something like, “The governor doesn’t make those decisions!”. Which flustered Tucker and made him stop and think, at which point she hit him with the question again. And of course she was wrong, as they admitted later. But their admission she was wrong didn’t come in the form of an apology, but another attack. This is what Campbell said during the convention last night, “And as it turns out, Palin HAS deployed the Guard twice, to fight fires in Alaska. If their own people didn’t even know that, what kind of vetting job did they do?” ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814/60 "2008-09-03T14:15:05Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > Or, more likely, it’s a reflection of the effectiveness of the “abstinence only” sex-ed programs that Palin supports. > > And her support for abstinence only education is a legitimate topic for questioning, as is the effectiveness of said program. This is the point I wanted to make. Having a pregnant teenager is relevant if you have been advocating “abstinence only” sex-ed, yet another anti-science ideology of the right. Seriously, did all the Repubs get beat up by the Science Club in Jr High? I feel sorry for Bristol and her fiance- I doubt that they’d be shotgunned if Palin wasn’t running for VP. And is anyone else wondering why some named Starving Artist would be pro-McCain? I doubt Johnny Mac will be handing out NEA grants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-cancels-larry-king-interview-because-campbell-brown-spanked-his-buttboy/461814.md?page=4)