John McCain, interviewed by Iowa's paper of record, the Des Moines Register, in spectacularly grumpy form:
As Ben Smith points out, McCain might have been thinking "why the hell am I doing this interview?". He is way behind in the Iowa polls. Still, he shouldn't have allowed himself to do the interview if he was feeling so irritable. It's the kind of thing a candidate could have got away with a few years ago - the tape probably wouldn't have made it out of Iowa. But - as Bill Clinton found out again and again - these days everything is on video, and on YouTube, and on the blogs, within hours.
One more point: Iowans pride themselves on their niceness. They like their politicians to be nice too. You can bet that John McCain won't be making any more trips to Iowa in this campaign.
UPDATE: Republican and former McCain adviser Mike Murphy is stunned at the McCain campaign's incompetence...
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