Media revolts against coverage of Palin at United Nations

The national media revolted against the McCain campaign today for manipulating coverage of Palin's meetings at the United Nations. All networks were prepared to ban the use of pictures and video from Palin's meetings in protest against the campaign's restriction on editorial presence (meaning the campaign wouldn't allow audio coverage of the meetings or Q&A, just photos).

In the original plan, CNN would provide a video feed for all the networks and three journalists would provide editorial coverage for print, radio and TV. Earlier today, the McCain campaign said it would allow just one editorial person inside then changed their mind and limited coverage to a camera only. After the networks protested, the campaign reversed course again and allowed a CNN producer and some reporters in to the preliminary part of Palin's meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

After the political wrangling and machinations were over, all the media got from Palin's meeting with Karzai were polite pleasantries. Their conversation, which took place at Karzai's hotel suite, centered around children and the birth of Karzai's first child last year.

Palin: "What is his name?"

Karzai: "Mirwais. Mirwais, which means, 'The Light of the House.'"

Palin: "Oh nice."

Karzai: "He is the only one we have."

That's it - that's all they got. After listening to this inane chit-chat, the journalists were escorted out of the room. Just how inept is Palin when it comes to real conversations with real people about substantive issues? She must be horrifyingly bad since the McCain campaign is taking whatever measures possible to keep her from talking openly to the media and the public.