Monday, August 18, 2008

McCain's 'Cone of Silence' Caper

By Robert Parry
August 18, 2008

Millions of Americans who watched Barack Obama and then John McCain respond to nearly identical questions from evangelical minister Rick Warren were surely impressed by McCain’s quick and sharp answers. Supposedly he had been in a “cone of silence” while Obama was getting grilled during the preceding hour.

However, as it turned out, TV viewers and other Americans were misled. McCain had not been in any “cone of silence” shielding him from hearing Warren’s questions and Obama’s answers.

Read on.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I certainly hope this won't be lost along the way, but published everyday to election, as to why McCain was so quick with answers he would have slipped up on. Many of the supposed to be christians are easily Fooled.

James Young said...

Yes, MARTA, we're poor, uneducated, and easy to command.

As compared to whom? The "talking points Left"?

Perhaps, given the facts as reported elsewhere, this post should be retitled "Parry's Smear Caper."

Anonymous said...

This "cone of silence" brouhaha is ridiculous and is nothing more than a distraction -- AGAIN!

Because Obama did not do as well in the forum as McCain did, this is an attempt by O's campaign surrogates and supporters to change the subject from his less than stellar performance to question McCain's honesty -- and by extension, Rick Warren's.

Has it not occurred to any of the Obama-blinded, that it is possible that Warren actually thought McCain was in the Green Room (the cone of silence) and that the truth is, his motorcade was simply delayed, thus he was not ensconced in the pre-arranged room, at the pre-arranged time?

Those of you who are beating this dead horse, are not doing Obama any favors. It makes him look like a sore loser.

To me, both candidates would have been WINNERS, if they had both told Rick Warren to take his forum and shove it!

This forum was all about Pastor Rick in the first place.

Now, you're giving Warren more attention, by belaboring this alleged "caper" in hopes of damaging McCain. But, believe me, or take it on faith (hahaha), Obama will be the loser in this, if you keep it up.

Anonymous said...

WHY ARE THESE LIES FROM THE OBAMA CAMP BEING REPEATED HERE????


Rick Warren Says McCain Didn't Cheat
Amanda Carpenter
Monday, August 18, 2008

Rev. Rick Warren strongly denied rumors GOP presidential candidate John McCain had “cheated” at a political forum he hosted at his church Saturday evening.

“That's absolutely a lie, absolutely a lie,” Warren said in an interview with BeliefNet. “That room was totally free, with no monitors--a flat out lie.”

Warren said Barack Obama’s supporters who are making the accusation McCain had knowledge of the questions Warren asked him ahead of time are “dead wrong.”


“That's just sour grapes,” Warren said. “They both did fantastically well. The only question he knew, I gave them the first question and I was changing the questions within an hour [before the forum began.] I talked to both of them a week before the debate and told them all the themes. I talked personally to John McCain and I talked personally to Barack Obama. I said, 'We'll talk about leadership, talk about the roles of government,' I said I'd probably have a question about climate change, probably a question on the courts. I didn't say, 'I'm going to ask which Supreme Court justice would you not [nominate]. They were clearly not prepared for that.”

Warren’s forum was the first time McCain and Obama both appeared at a presidential event. Warren questioned each candidate separately for an hour each. Obama’s session was held first, followed by McCain’s. Warren promised McCain was contained “in a cone of silence” during Obama’s allotted time to ensure McCain would not hear the questions ahead of time. Both candidates were asked the same questions.

Many political analysts agreed McCain outperformed Obama at the event, largely because of his directness in answering Warren’s questions, which ranged from abortion, to marriage, to poverty to social justice issues.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell said on Meet the Press Sunday, “The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that -- what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”

“He seemed so well prepared,” she added.

The McCain campaign pushed back hard against MSNBC for perpetuating the rumor Monday morning. McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis sent a letter to the NBC News President Steve Capus that said, “"Instead of examining the Obama campaign's spin for truth before reporting it to more than 3 million NBC News viewers, Andrea Mitchell simply passed along Obama campaign conspiracy theories.”

Davis also requested a meeting “with you as soon as possible to discuss our deep concerns about the news standards and level of objectivity at NBC.”

Unknown said...

Anonymous and Young complain that the Obama camp made-up the 'cone of silence' brouhaha, but it's true--McCain wasn't in any 'cone of silence. He was in his motorcade.

Anonymous said...

It has become a continuous source of frustration to read the paper, listen to the news and expect these sources to provide the information upon which to base the opinion to vote. Most Americans who work don't watch AM news or read other than hometown front page articles, they're busy getting ready for work. After work, some news surfing may occur. However, I have been L-O-N-G sick of the Howdy Doody style of 'news' programs who surround the 'reporting' with the kitchen table gossip scene. Most of the items are selected for their 'appeal to the viewer' to increase the viewing base, because this is what the station is focused on, percentages not news, or the responsibility to report news.
Real information, of every sort, is denied the ordinary news consumer. It is timeconsuming for a person to access multiple sources by radio, by TV, by Internet, time most people don't have or care to use in this way. So it is the unfounded inflamatory 'information' which catches the attention, it's the 'information' you repeat, and the 'information' that influences your vote. Committees to Elect depend upon this, and it makes their jobs s-o-o-o easy.

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