McCain: Clinton Could Be Feeling Sorry for Herself

NYT

Senator John McCain thinks Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton might be feeling sorry for herself.

He told Glamour magazine in an interview today that Mrs. Clinton had been “an incredibly effective candidate and one that has been in many ways a role model for other women who seek public office.”

Then Cindi Leive, the editor of Glamour, who was interviewing him, asked him if Mrs. Clinton had been “treated fairly on the campaign trail as a woman.”

Here’s what he said:

You know, I don’t know because I’m not objective enough to make the judgment. I simply don’t know. But I know the one thing that I try to avoid in my campaigns is feeling sorry for myself. It’s easy to do, pick up the paper this morning, read a story that’s negative, ‘Oh, my God, they’re picking on me.’ You just can’t do that. You just can’t do that.

He went on to say he admired Mrs. Clinton’s “tenacity, her knowledge of the issues.”

The interview was part of Mr. McCain’s attempt to touch some cultural bases and demographics that he may have overlooked in his career — young women, for example, who make up Glamour’s readership. His debut in the magazine came in December, when he talked about his daughter, Meghan.

Mr. McCain is scheduled to be on “Saturday Night Live” tonight. While he was in New York, he spent part of the afternoon talking with Ms. Leive at a midtown hotel. The full interview is to appear in a later issue of the magazine, but here are some snippets.

He did suggest that he might not have agreed with his wife’s decision not to release her tax returns.

“We’ll continue to discuss it,” he said in response to a question. “But Cindy’s and my finances have always been separate; we file separate tax returns and I believe that she’s entitled to that privacy. But we’ll continue to discuss it.”

Ms. Leive noted that there is a Web site called ThingsYoungerThanMcCain.com, which puts Scrabble, the Golden Gate Bridge and also the area code system in that category..............