McCain’s olive branch to Letterman
Should McCain be apologizing to the late-night comedian, or vice versa?
“John McCain tried to make amends with David Letterman on Thursday,” said Matea Gold and Maeve Reston in the Los Angeles Times, telling the late-night comedian that he “screwed up” (click here for the CBS video, via YouTube) by canceling a Sept. 24 appearance at the last minute to rush back to Washington. McCain didn’t leave New York until the next day, and Letterman has sharply “mocked” him ever since. The feud strained their “long-amiable relationship,” but it was great for ratings.
Sure, McCain “treasures the image of himself as a fun guy,” but I don’t know why he put up with this abuse, said Dorothy Rabinowitz in The Wall Street Journal. What, really, was his “primal sin”? Ditching the show to focus on the cresting fiscal “events of national consequence, all of them grim”? Letterman’s not funny, he’s egotistical.
He’s also a skillful interviewer, said T. Christopher Kelly in TalkLeft. Letterman’s “blistering cross-examination” got McCain to discuss his ties to Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy—which defanged the Bill Ayers “nonsense.” It was a good skewering, but “aren’t these the kinds of questions that journalists should be asking?”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Trump uses tariffs to upend Brazil's domestic politics
IN THE SPOTLIGHT By slapping a 50% tariff on Brazil for its criminal investigation into Bolsonaro, the Trump administration is brazenly putting its fingers on the scales of a key foreign election
-
3 questions to ask when deciding whether to repair or replace your broken appliance
the explainer There may be merit to fixing what you already have, but sometimes buying new is even more cost-effective
-
'Trump's authoritarian manipulation of language'
Instant Opinion Vienna has become a 'convenient target for populists' | Opinion, comment and editorials of the day