Is John McCain trying to control the media on his Campaign plane?

Not a good way to endure yourself to the media, John….

Via Michael Calderone’s Blog @ Politico.com

Time columnist Joe Klein, who’s been a forceful critic of the  McCain Campaign (and already said he’s unwilling to accept a post-election apology), has found himself without a seat on the McCain or Palin planes the past four months.

In June, Klein was kept from boarding the McCain plane over what they said had been a security issue. More recently, when trying to fly on the Palin plane last week, Klein told Politico over e-mail that the campaign’s response was he “couldn’t be accommodated at this time.”“I’ve done nine presidential campaigns and this is the first time this has ever happened to me,” Klein said. “I was even allowed—I won’t say welcomed—on the Clinton plane in the summer of 1996 after I was revealed as the author of Primary Colors.”

“I rode with McCain during the primaries, but not since I asked him—at a June press conference—whether he really believed Ahmadinejad was the ‘leader’ of Iran, since he has no control over foreign policy or the nuclear program,” Klein continued. “That was when they suddenly told me that I hadn’t called in time to get secret service clearance. (I had called more than a day in advance.)"

This is not very smart at all. I mean, McCain has every right to allow whom he wants on his campaign plane, but what kind of message does it sent to the media, when you disallow someone on your plane that either criticizes you or campaign?

Some say that this is sign that John McCain is not in control of his campaign, but I disagree with this totally, I think that man is totally in control and knows what he is doing. Not that I agree with it. But I don’t think John McCain is that stupid. I think McCain’s got some Oddball idea that this is making him look like some sort of a Maverick. However, I think it will seen more as fascist in nature.

I mean, could you even remotely imagine the outrage, if Barack Obama decided to just toss FOX NEWS off his campaign plane, because he did not like something that they said about him? It would not be pretty.

Somehow or another, other than the blogs, I doubt this will get much airtime.

Others Blogging: Outside The Beltway, PoliGazette (H/T Memeornadum)