Presidential Campaigns: The Childish Side

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


If you are interested in how presidential candidates use silly maneuvers to upstage one another on the campaign trail, check out this blog post from the New York Times‘ very good new political blog, The Caucus.

The focus of the post is how John McCain is trying to distract the Michigan press (and voters) from Mitt Romney’s formal candidacy announcement, which is due today in Dearborn. Admittedly, writing about stuff like this is the worst kind of horserace journalism — covering the process of politics, instead of the substance, and focusing on who plays the game better, instead of who would govern well — so consider it a disclaimer when I say that posts like this one and the one over at The Caucus are for political junkies who enjoy political minutia as the lemon twist on their serious journalism martini.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate