In a CNN video interview with Sheryl Crow on the big night in Denver, posted on Rawstory last Friday, the journalist referred to John McCain as the "Independent" candidate.
Slip of the tongue? I think not.
After which the lovely Sheryl recounted a soul-crushing encounter with the Maverick himself.
Quotes below the fold.
Check out how the Bush flunkies at CNN introduced the interview:
Before Senator Barack Obama talked about change, Sheryl Crow sang about it here in Denver. I spoke to her about supporting the Democratic nominee and about why she is not backing Independent John McCain
Now, let's be clear about this. We are not dealing with a 'slip' here, not any more than when the Fox Noisemakers 'inadvertently' say Osama instead of Obama.
The evidence lies in the very nature of television production. The interviewer shot the introduction outside the stadium, separately from the green room interview, which means he would of course have had as many chances as he wanted to correct the error.
Even if he didn't notice having made it himself, his producer was presumably there, as was the camera operator.
But let's not forget that the piece also had to be edited and then approved, meaning that at least two (and probably many more) additional professional newspeople saw it before it aired.
You make slips on live television. You don't make slips in a carefully packaged interview piece.
But the most depressing part is yet to come.
After Sheryl explained that she is supporting Obama because of "those words that resonate like Bobby Kennedy's words, about being awake, about being conscious, and about everything that springs forward for this nation starts within all of us", the interviewer asked:
Was there anything on the Republican side for you? McCain professes to be a champion of the environment, wants to curb global warming.
To which Sheryl replied with a story of a dinner in Austin that she'd attended in honor of McSame during the period when he was considering his POTUS run. There, she asked him why the US was being "so reticent to step up to where the science has already brought us" with regard to climate change and the Kyoto accord.
And his comment was, Our best years on the planet are probably behind us. And I was... I mean, the air just rushed out of my body, I felt very demoralized. And I said, if you run for president, is that how you feel? Because that's certainly not an answer that I can live with, not with a new baby. I can't live with that being the idea.
Ok, so it's not a firsthand quote, but Sheryl doesn't strike me as an especially mendacious person. He probably did in fact say something very much like that.
And reluctant kudos, by the way, to CNN. Despite the 'independent' ploy, at least they aired Sheryl's story.