Greg Sargent reports that John McCain called the Iowa family snubbed by Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for not being rich enough to serve as suitable props for their “anti-death tax” stop in Iowa. Undoubtedly, the McCain campaign is attempting to turn Rudy’s mistake into a net gain for them — apologizing “on behalf of all politicians” is the kind of platitude usually reserved for Clintonesque feeling of others’ pain — but the old guy at least has the decency to treat the snubbed woman like a human and not a piece of scenery. Note the genuine banter and, further, note her classiness in saying no:
In his call to Deb, McCain apologized to her on the Rudy campaign’s behalf and asked if he could come see her, the woman says. “He apologized on behalf of all politicians,” she told me. “He just apologized in general. He was really sweet. I recognized his voice from TV. He was very, very polite, funny.”
In asking to come visit with her, “He started teasing me and saying, ‘We’re doing a security check. I’m homing in on satellite,’” Deb tells me. “I said, ‘No, no, don’t do it.’ We were laughing. It was incredibly nice.”
Apparently, Deb’s experience with the Rudy campaign — her giddy anticipation of his visit, followed by the harsh letdown that followed — was so jarring that she turned down McCain’s request for a visit. For now, anyway.