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Media note: All hail John McCain!

December 21, 2009 3:20 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

This is quite telling, courtesy of the WashPost's Chris Cillizza as he toast the ultimate political "winners" of the health care reform showdown [emphasis added]:

-- John McCain: The Mac was back during the health-care debate, a feisty presence on the Senate floor and in front of the television cameras, leading the GOP opposition to the bill. McCain's performance over the past several weeks proved that he is and will continue to be a major force in the chamber. His stalwart opposition to the plan is also good politics, making it harder for former representative J.D. Hayworth to challenge him from the ideological right in a primary next year.

What exactly did McCain do in recent weeks in terms of the health care debate to emerge as a clear "winner"? (As a "major force"?) He maintained a "presence" on the Senate floor. He also showed up on TV on a lot and opposed Obama's initiative. Wow, I mean what more could a political leader do during an historic legislative showdown?

The truth is if you strip away the Beltway media's obsessive, McCain's-our-man-coverage, the Arizona senator, like virtually every Republican member of Congress, was a spectator during the health care legislative process. Without the votes to stop anything, and having adopted a strategy to uniformly oppose everything Democrats offered up, Republicans assigned themselves to permanent bystander status. 

Meanwhile, McCain himself is not considered to be a health care expert and his opposition to the White House plan was telegraphed months ago. Meaning, McCain brought nothing of substance to the debate. Yet lo and behold, looking back on the legislative process which Republicans lost, the WashPost tips its cap to McCain for emerging as a health debate "winner."

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    • Author by nerzog (December 21, 2009 3:29 pm ET)
      1  
      On a side note, Rachel Maddow did a story a few nights back about a missing bit of tape from the C-Span archives. It apparently showed Senator McCain objecting to extending the time for a fellow Senator... an action for which he blasted Senator Al Franken last week. McCain insisted that such a dastardly thing was "unprecedented".

      The Democrats could prove him a liar by running the tape of him doing the same thing... but it's missing. How odd.
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      • Author by DellDolly (December 22, 2009 11:32 am ET)
           
        Didn't CSpan find that tape for her? I didn't get to watch her show last night.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by mustardman (December 21, 2009 3:33 pm ET)
      3  
      Heard on MSNBC the other day that Republicans have tried to fillibuster a record 98 times this year...(so far). The most EVER!
      Report Abuse
      • Author by bintx (December 21, 2009 4:52 pm ET)
        2  
        They're trying to beat the record they set in 2007 and 2008.
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      • Author by jjamele2880 (December 21, 2009 6:21 pm ET)
        1 1
        And how many times were the Republicans forced to filibuster to prevent the Democrats from doing something that the Democrats wanted to do? ZERO.

        Because the Democrats are so horrified at the mere THREAT of a filibuster, that we instantly fold and find ways to give the Republicans what they want, rather than making them fight for it?
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    • Author by mk3872 (December 21, 2009 3:41 pm ET)
      3  
      Of course McCain is the big winner!

      See, in Chris Cillizza land, EVERYTHING is based on media exposure, applause lines and lots of love in the op-ed pages of WaPo & WSJ.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Limit Corp. Ownership (December 21, 2009 4:34 pm ET)
        2  
        Why do I get the feeling Cillizza was trying to determine who should be thrown off the island?
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    • Author by phredicles (December 21, 2009 3:45 pm ET)
         
      Isn't "feisty" an adjective that generally applies to women Of A Certain Age? Is she calling McCain and old lady? He does remind me of the old crone in "Momma".
      Report Abuse
      • Author by jeff191 (December 21, 2009 4:36 pm ET)
           
        remember when McCain was W Bush's opponent and to the right he was a dangerous nutjob who was really a hero to liberals. my how things have changed
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    • Author by aBeck in 10-O-C (December 21, 2009 5:11 pm ET)
         
      Jamison Foser's insightful blog on Ceci Connolly's "smart people" yesterday really nailed the underlying attitude manifested in Beltway reporting like Cillizza's. In it Foser links to a Jay Rosen post that should be required reading.
      "This is part of what's so insidious about press savviness: it tries to hog realism to itself."
      I highly recommend them both.
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    • Author by blue553 (December 21, 2009 6:15 pm ET)
         
      Johnny told us during the debate he knew how to get Bin Laden and knew how to win the wars. Johnny--do your duty and tell the President. Make it your last act as a Senator. Take your friend Joey by the hand a walk into the sunset of your lives--and leave the rest of us the hell alone.
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    • Author by mattcable250650 (December 21, 2009 10:04 pm ET)
      2  
      I saw a bit of McCain on C-Span this morning. He was very, VERY bitterly complaining that President Obama never reached out to Republicans. I checked back in a minute later to see a Democrat correcting McCain and saying yes indeed, the President surely did so too! Now if only the press corps would do as that Democratic Senator did!
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