Toobin: "[I]f there is one public figure in America who has gotten better press over the years than John McCain, I don't know who it is"

Summary: Asked on Imus in the Morning about "the press coverage of Senator Obama," CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin responded: "[I]f there is one public figure in America who has gotten better press over the years than John McCain, I don't know who it is."

On the July 23 edition of Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus asked CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin: "What do you make of this trip and the press coverage of Senator [Barack] Obama?" Toobin responded by noting complaints by Sen. John McCain's campaign that Obama has received more favorable treatment from the press than McCain has. Toobin said: "I don't really think ... the press coverage is much out of -- out of what you would expect, or it's all that outrageous. I mean, frankly, what ... I find kind of appalling is John McCain complaining about media bias. I mean, if there is one public figure in America who has gotten better press over the years than John McCain, I don't know who it is."

From the July 23 edition of ABC Radio Networks' Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: How are things over at CNN, which -- I, of course, hate CNN, but I like you. So -- and a few other people there, so --

TOOBIN: Well, it's -- it's just fine. You know, it's -- it's weird. It's kind of -- it's -- it's been kind of a lull since the end of the -- you know, those of us who talk about politics, it's -- it's sometimes a bit of a struggle to come up with stuff. You know, you can only speculate about the vice presidency so much, and the -- and, you know, I guess Obama's trip has been new, but -- but, you know, frankly since the end of the primaries, it -- it -- it's lost a little of its urgency, I think.

IMUS: What -- what do you make of this trip and the press coverage of Senator Obama?

TOOBIN: Well, I -- I don't really think there is -- the press coverage is much out of -- out of what you would expect, or -- or it's all that outrageous. I mean, frankly, what -- what -- what I find kind of appalling is John McCain complaining about media bias. I mean, if there is one public figure in America who has gotten better press over the years than John McCain, I don't know who it is. I mean, sure, Barack Obama is spending eight days in the Middle East and Europe, of course it's going to get a lot of publicity. I don't think that's any -- that's any reason for the press to apologize.

—M.M.B.