I read the right wing piece you sited, which drags up the old lies about Barack Obama. If the guy who wrote that had been on the plane it would have been tempting for me to hand him a parachute, just kidding. Interested in the truth?
"In the final days of a campaign, it is not uncommon for journalists to be shuffled as multiple news agencies rush to get a coveted seat close to the candidate.
"Unfortunately, demand for seats on the plane during this final weekend has far exceeded supply, and because of logistical issues we made the decision not to add a second plane," said Obama campaign senior adviser Anita Dunn.
"This means we've had to make hard and unpleasant for all concerned decisions about limiting some news organizations and in some cases not being in a position to offer space to news organizations altogether," she said."
Joe Klein gets kicked off McCain campaign plane October 21, 2008
In June, Klein was kept from boarding the McCain plane over what they said had been a security issue. More recently, when trying to fly on the Palin plane last week, Klein told Politico over e-mail that the campaign's response was he “couldn’t be accommodated at this time.”
“I’ve done nine presidential campaigns and this is the first time this has ever happened to me,” Klein said. “I was even allowed—I won’t say welcomed—on the Clinton plane in the summer of 1996 after I was revealed as the author of Primary Colors.”
“I rode with McCain during the primaries, but not since I asked him—at a June press conference—whether he really believed Ahmadinejad was the ‘leader’ of Iran, since he has no control over foreign policy or the nuclear program,” Klein continued. “That was when they suddenly told me that I hadn’t called in time to get secret service clearance. (I had called more than a day in advance.)"
But he’s not the first high-profile critic to get the cold shoulder.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that she had been “banned” by the campaign for what they told her was “the foreseeable future.” Despite Dowd being kept off the planes, The Times continues to have reporters travel with the campaign.
Similarly, other Time magazine staffers, including Washington bureau chief Jay Carney, " reporter Michael Scherer, and Mark Halperin (The Page), have not had a problem with access.
Klein noted that a couple weeks ago he told McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace about planning to get on the McCain plane again, and by his account, “she seemed to think it would be fine.” (Wallace has not yet answered a request for comment).
One thing seems clear about not getting on the Palin plane: space wasn't an issue. According to a reporter traveling with the campaign, there had been a few empty seats last week.
“My understanding is that his request came in too late,” Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt said.
So either Klein is consistently too late putting in requests, or the campaign just doesn't really want him aboard."
Two months ago, after Newsweek published an article the McCain camp didn't like, McCain aide Mark Salter reportedly threatened to throw the magazine's reporters off the campaign bus. During the 2000 campaign, an Arizona Republic reporter was kicked off the bus after her newspaper ran an editorial questioning whether McCain "has the temperament and the political approach and skills we want in the next president of the United States." In August 2006, a senior McCain strategist allegedly told another Arizona Republic reporter he was "off the bus" after an article the McCain camp didn't like.
In late June, The Washington Post reported that McCain's new campaign plane features a "special area" with a couch and captain's chairs where McCain will conduct interviews -- and that Salter said "only the good reporters" would get to sit in the area; "You'll have to earn it."
"An opaque brown curtain separates McCain from the traveling press corps. It remained closed through most of the flight this morning from Nashville to Allentown, Pa. A flight attendant opened it during descent.
At no point was McCain visible. His motorcade dropped him near the front of the plane on the rainy tarmac in Nashville. McCain boarded and spent the rest of the flight in his front cabin.
Is the McCain curtain ever open mid-flight?
“Never," an aide said.
One member of the news media did get access to McCain en route to the Pennsylvania stop. About 30 minutes into the flight, top McCain aide Steve Schmidt appeared and waved to conservative talk show host Sean Hannity.
Hannity came up, passed through the curtain and disappeared into McCain-land."
"John McCain's famously cozy relationship with the press is getting a bit testy. Taking questions in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday the Arizona Republican blew off Wall Street Journal reporter Elizabeth Holmes, right after she stated her name and affiliation.
"Who else has a question," McCain interjected