Free Ride: John McCain and the Media

by David Brock and Paul Waldman

We live in a gotcha media culture that revels in exposing the foibles and hypocrisies of our politicians. But one politician manages to escape this treatment, getting the benefit of the doubt and a positive spin for nearly everything he does: John McCain. Indeed, even during his temporary decline in popularity in 2007, the media continued to support him by lamenting his fate rather than criticizing the flip flops and politicking that undermined his...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307279405
• ISBN13: 9780307279408
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Maverick--------NOT!

A good insight into the straight talking John McCain and what he is like when not in the public eye. While appearing to sometimes conflict with the Republican base, many are on safe issues. The fact that he is a true American hero and survivor that he supposedly keeps from talking about, it's a subject that always seems to come up. He's tough and challenging and the author treats him like someone he has enjoyed knowing and watching, but not without his own flaws, some admitted and others left to discern by the reader.

What DO You Really Know About McCain?

McCain has spent a lifetime changing his stripes for expediency's sake. From the crash-disfigured wife he dumped--after having numerous affairs--to marry Cindy to his cozy relationship with Charles Keating who helped cost taxpayers $120 billion to his instantaneous morph into a "Reformer" when caught red-handed in the corrupt cash jar to his recent favors for Phoenix developer Donald R. Diamond, McCain has been light on his feet and filled with self-righteousness. McCain says we could have won the Vietnam War if we had used all the weapons at our disposal, a thinly veiled reference to Goldwater's recommendation that North Vietnam should be nuked. McCain's megalomaniacal need to inject himself into the recent Georgian crisis showed him to be a demagogue who would be dangerous in higher office. Yet the Washington press corps rammer on about "The McCain Brand" and continue to cover for him. Read the book and learn.

You should read this book!

John McCain's carefully cultivated -- and totally fabricated -- image with the Traditional Media is exposed in this extraordinary book. Our current President is a creation of a cowed and obedient media. Learn about the GOP's nominee, and his obedient press, by reading this great book.

Shines a light on media complicity

It's a fact: The Media loves them some McCain. What seems apparent at first or second glance becomes nauseatingly obvious and borderline criminal when all the evidence is gathered in once place, as in this book. The phoenix-like rise of McCain's campaign from the ashes is not so bizarre and miraculous when one faces reality and recognizes that the media was pulling for McCain through those dark days, and now that he's the nominee, they can slip into their old habits without making it seem so obvious. The book is depressing and heartening at the same time - while the media arrogantly goes about preening their favorites, facts be damned, it's long overdue that this Beltway circle jerk is illuminated.

Accurate, Eye-Opening, Sad and Scary

This book is one more example of a crucial piece of information that helps us to fill in a larger and more troubling picture: The mainstream media relies on myths, narratives and storylines that so shape our perception of people and events that it becomes a near impossiblity for citizens to stay informed about important national issues. Waldman and Brock of MediaMatters.org have finally issued a book they have been working on for years and it could not be appearing in print at a more useful time. "Free Ride: John McCain and the Media" peels away the press/political onion and gets to the heart of why McCain is truly getting a pass from the mainstream media. "Hero," "Patriot," "Maverick," and "Straight Talker"--we've all heard the media's buzzwords in regard to John McCain and this book will tell you first--the truth behind them, and second--why you continue to hear them. It probably won't surprise you to learn once again that the rock has to be lifted up so the sunshine can start to illuminate everything that grows and wriggles underneath. As Americans we have gone through this sometimes painful process more than once and those who are reluctant to follow truth wherever it may lead them might do well to stop at the period at the end of this sentence and go no further. For others, this book contains education we all need to have if we are going to keep participating in American democracy. This is an important and readable book. It's not only about John McCain. It's also about our supposedly "liberal media" and how it treats our public figures. And how we can so easily be misled and left behind if we're not more discerning and critical.