As some of you know, my husband, Bob, is a newspaper columnist. A few days ago, when John McCain visited Minnesota, Bob spent half an hour interviewing McCain. He rode with him on his tour bus, which is a huge, intimidating dark bus that says "STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS" and "John McCain for president" on the side.
The closest I got to meeting him was driving Bob to the airport and dropping him off to get on the tour bus which was surrounded by state troopers. They all eyeballed me suspiciously and looked ready to shoot if I made the wrong move, so I couldn't wait to leave.
I thought what he talked to him about was interesting because he didn't bother asking all the usual questions that have already been asked and answered a million times. It made me wonder if most people only want to hear a candidates political views or if you also want to know more about them as a person before you decide who to vote for. When reading (or listening to the interview) you can tell when McCain was asked a personal question nobody has asked him before and when he was asked a question he's prepared for.
You can click here to read the column:
John McCain Talks/Bob Sansevere Listens
You also can listen to audio of the interview at that link, once you figure out how to play it, which is weird because listening to it totally feels like eavesdropping on a private conversation because it is very quiet and just the two of them talking quietly and you can hear the bus engine. Very different from when he is onstage in front of a microphone.
Bob said McCain came off as a decent guy with a sense of humor. Bob asked him who he would like to trade places with for a day, McCain first said lower income people to see how they deal with the economy, then switched to Chinese leaders to learn how they think. When McCain was done answering the question, Bob said he thought McCain would want to trade places with Barack Obama so he could have Obama withdraw from the presidential race and clear the way for McCain to win.
McCain got a big laugh out of that.
Hopefully he will get to do the same sort of interview with Barack Obama when he comes to town.
edited to change the link, the story moved for some reason
The closest I got to meeting him was driving Bob to the airport and dropping him off to get on the tour bus which was surrounded by state troopers. They all eyeballed me suspiciously and looked ready to shoot if I made the wrong move, so I couldn't wait to leave.
I thought what he talked to him about was interesting because he didn't bother asking all the usual questions that have already been asked and answered a million times. It made me wonder if most people only want to hear a candidates political views or if you also want to know more about them as a person before you decide who to vote for. When reading (or listening to the interview) you can tell when McCain was asked a personal question nobody has asked him before and when he was asked a question he's prepared for.
You can click here to read the column:
John McCain Talks/Bob Sansevere Listens
You also can listen to audio of the interview at that link, once you figure out how to play it, which is weird because listening to it totally feels like eavesdropping on a private conversation because it is very quiet and just the two of them talking quietly and you can hear the bus engine. Very different from when he is onstage in front of a microphone.
Bob said McCain came off as a decent guy with a sense of humor. Bob asked him who he would like to trade places with for a day, McCain first said lower income people to see how they deal with the economy, then switched to Chinese leaders to learn how they think. When McCain was done answering the question, Bob said he thought McCain would want to trade places with Barack Obama so he could have Obama withdraw from the presidential race and clear the way for McCain to win.
McCain got a big laugh out of that.
Hopefully he will get to do the same sort of interview with Barack Obama when he comes to town.
edited to change the link, the story moved for some reason
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