The No Talk Express

Sen. John McCain took questions from the press yesterday. For a whopping seven minutes. It’s the first time he has done so in weeks, perhaps even months. McCain’s handlers, fearful that a single gaffe could be disastrous, have imposed a near media blackout on the candidate once known and beloved of the press for his lengthy repartee and willingness to take interviews.

His running-mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, on the ticket now for nearly a month, is still sequestered. To date, she has participated in two interview and zero press conferences. The near totality of her exposure to the watching world is the same stump speech she’s been giving since her nomination.

Yesterday, every major network informed the McCain campaign that they were prepared to ban the use of pictures and video from Palin’s photo-ops with foreign leaders at the United Nations in protest of the campaign’s continuing restrictions of editorial presence. The campaign relented at the last minute and allowed a CNN producer to attend the meeting, but not speak up. Today, when Palin tried to engage a reporter, a McCain aide intervened and shepherded everybody out of the room, much to the candidate’s surprise.

How ready are you to lead if you can’t even be trusted to open your mouth intelligently?