Ben Smith

The Politico's Ben Smith: "[A McCain campaign call] was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may ... deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy."

McCain campaign's Michael Goldfarb: “[The Politico is] quibbling with ridiculously small details when the basic things are completely right.”

Me: Details are important.  Get them right.  Until you can manage that, don't complain about the media.

Point of personal privilege.

Ben Smith wrote about John McCain and the alleged need for him to look like he is technologically more sophisticated. When Ben called me, I told him that I thought it was a cheap attack against McCain. Jon Henke noted that  "Howard Dean 'was a self-described 'technophobe'".

Ben seems to suggest that I think that McCain should wear a stupid-looking high-tech earpiece. I don't. I joked that an older-tech earpiece might be reminiscent of a fighter-pilot's head-gear, but I don't think that it would be a good idea at all.

At the end, Ben captures the real point. John McCain has to campaign. I have to wonder why McCain would be spending his time with a blackberry, like Obama, when he could be talking to voters or press or working on his speeches, or getting briefed on Iraq, the economy, or some other important issue.

NOTE: I wrote this, and then dialed it back some. Ben has updated the story and clarified what I said. He does seem to take a dig at mef or not being timeliness. But it is the Politiico which seems to prefer speed to accuracy.