McCain Campaign Bans Dowd

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette provides more details on reports that NYT columnist Maureen Dowd was banned from traveling with the McCain and Palin campaigns.

It all started when Maureen covered an Aug. 30 McCain-Palin rally in Washington, Pa., then wasn't let on the McCain plane afterward, forcing her to overnight at a Pittsburgh airport hotel while the traveling press went on without her.

"I had had a great relationship with John McCain for 16 years, through columns he liked and didn't like. So at first I thought it was a mistake and doublechecked with the press office. They said I was banned from both planes for 'the foreseeable future.' Then [McCain spokeswoman] Nicole Wallace was gloating about it to reporters on the Palin plane," Dowd wrote in an email.

"It was disappointing because I didn't think John McCain would ever be as dismissive of the First Amendment as Dick Cheney."

It bears mentioning that the McCain camp has declared all-out war on the Times, and is being protective of Palin with everyone in the media, but especially someone as adroit and experienced as Maureen. (emphasis added)