Who Spiked the Metamucil?

John McCain suddenly cancelled his appearance with David Letterman just before show taping on September 24, 2008. He personally told Letterman he had to rush back to Washington because the economy was "about to crater."

As reported in the NY Times, Letterman was not so pleased. “'When you call up at the last minute and cancel, that’s not the John McCain I know.' He repeated that 'something smells right now' and he suggested 'somebody must have put something in his Metamucil.'"

Letterman quickly substituted MSNBC's Countdown show host Keith Olbermann. In a surprise move during their discussion of the McCain situation, The Late Show cut away to a live shot of Katie Couric's set where the makeup attendant was prepping Sen. McCain for an interview on Couric's CBS News show.

Then came the famous Letterman snarkquery: “Hey, John, I’ve got a question: You need a lift to the airport?”

Quizzed by Letterman on whether he thought the cancellation was unavoidable, Mr. Olbermann replied:  “He ditched you.”


Check out the website, King's Dream: Barack Obama Becomes President of the United States of America, for info on where to purchase the book, the Writers' list, Endnotes, the editors' personal election photo diary, and more.

Purple the New Neutral

On July 31, 2008, The New York Times noted that the press, under siege for being too soft or too hard on the presidential candidates, had "gone purple." Keith Olbermann, then MSNBC commentator, Bill O'Reilly from Fox News, and NBC's Lester Holt had all been spotted wearing purple ties on television.

As the middle-ground color between Blue (for Democrats) and Red (for Republicans), "purple is the new neutral," said Jim Moore, the creative director of GQ magazine. The color purple worked with then-fashionable gray suits, and it also worked to covey political neutrality.

Next time you're watching election news, look for purple ties.