First, there’s Sarah Palin. She has yet to hold a press conference and take questions from the press. It’s been almost a month since she was anounced, her popularity is plummeting, so what are they waiting for?

Today I read this: “Palin Bans Reporters from Meetings with Leaders” (AP)

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.

I’m not sure of the strategy behind this approach. Sarah Palin has only given us a few memorized lines, which continue to be repeated though they’ve been debunked as lies. It seems like you’d want to give us some new meat to chew on, some substance, so that we could form some ideas about you other than the fact that you’re a liar. Help us to move past the bridge to nowhere and the pitbull in lipstick. We have no choice but to assume that there truly is no substance behind the few, shallow details we’ve been given about Sarah Palin.

And now McCain is avoiding the media, too.

As of this writing, it has been 39 days and 22 hours since Sen. John McCain last held a news conference (despite having promised to hold weekly Q&A sessions with the press if he’s elected). According to the Democrats, it’s been 24 days and 11 hours since his running mate, Sarah Palin, held one. (WaPo)

There’s even a website to help us count.

Something very strange is happening here. The McCain campaign is shunning the media, who has consistently been his biggest ally througout the years. Seems to me that making the press angry will only encourage them to scrutinize you more, follow-up with tough questions, and maybe even try to get back at you for treating them so poorly.

Good luck, John McCain and Sarah Palin. You’re going to need it.