Late last month, John McCain “suspended” his presidential campaign by appearing on CBS News when he was scheduled to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman. Ads still ran, surrogates still appeared on tv, his campaign offices were still open—all that was truly affected by McCain’s half-week “suspension” was the Letterman interview. And you know who was pissed? David Letterman!
Yesterday evening, McCain stopped by the show to try and make things better. “I screwed up!” said McCain, in his defense. When Letterman continued to rail, he added “I screwed up! What can I say?” Ironically, McCain—who took a day and a half to get to Washington after his campaign “suspension”—rushed to a helicopter Thursday afternoon when flight delays threatened to keep him from making it to the interview. There are emergencies and then there are emergencies, you see.
While affable, Letterman wasn’t afraid to turn the heat up on the Republican nominee. McCain gritted his way through queries about Sarah Palin‘s readiness, whether “Joe The Plumber” would get a tax cut, and whether he really knows how to get Osama Bin Laden. He did get to have some fun, though, promising that he would only raise taxes for Letterman. “My first executive order!”
When the subject of Bill Ayers came up, Letterman noted that McCain had a relationship with G. Gordon Liddy, unrepentant mastermind of the Watergate break-in. McCain was obviously surprised by the reference (Senator Barack Obama has yet to make a note of it), and had to wait until after the break to say that Liddy had “paid his debt to society.” Not that Ayers was ever charged with anything.
[Photo: AFP]
