John McCain, the man who in 2008 put losing like a gentleman above doing what was necessary to keep then-Senator WrightAyersRezkoPleger out of the White House, appeared on CNN Wednesday with a fistful of red herrings designed to seek favor with his friends in the media by “othering” Donald Trump as a threat to all that holy and virtuous in America.

Speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, McCain once again proved that he had what it took to defeat  Barack Obama but that he’d prefer to save his blistering rhetoric for his fellow  Republicans.

McCain also proved that he knows absolutely nothing about the American Constitution. In his establishment-addled mind, only the DC Media has rights. The rest of us are required to dance to their tune:

“Anyone who is running for president and who gets to choose who the [debate] moderator is,” McCain said, using that ridiculous Solemn Voice of his. “That is the destruction of the free press, as we know it.”

First off, destroying the “press as we know it” is crucially important to our democracy. I’m all in favor of destroying the “press as we know it.” In fact, I’ve dedicated my career to it. The “press as we know it” is the most corrupt institution allowed to operate legally in America.

Moreover, Trump isn’t “choosing” the moderator any more than a trial attorney chooses the jury.  Asking that a biased and unacceptable juror or moderator be removed is not “choosing.”

Riddle me this, Senator McCain:

We are in the second or third cycle of Democrats refusing to debate on Fox News, and somehow our democracy still stands.

The Republican National Committee has, for good reason, booted NBC News from the debates, and somehow our democracy still stands.

And what about the rights of the individual? What about Trump’s God-given right to not appear at a debate that Fox News was undoubtedly rigging to sink him?

In that single sentence, McCain exposed one very simple fact: That he lost the 2008 presidential election even before it began.

McCain then goes on to kinda-sorta blame the media for all of this because — get this — Trump is allowed to phone into the Sunday talk shows:

Part of it is to blame the media. They have given him a free pass. He calls in on the Sunday talk shows. He decides which programs he’s on and which he isn’t. He’s able to fill the room and take all the oxygen out of it at the same time. So the media, I think, in their desperation to have him on all the time to in crease ratings, have probably given him the confidence to decide to have a — quote — veterans event. By the way, I wish he were not using a veterans event as a way to further his own political agenda.

McCain’s dishonesty is mind-boggling. Naturally, Blitzer didn’t press the Arizona Senator on it, because they are all members of the Country Club of the Failed Status Quo. But here is the truth…

In this 12 person Republican field, no other candidate has even come close to making him or herself as available to the press as Trump. He’s everywhere, on every network, and on every news show talking to everyone. Trump has even appeared on MSNBC. The frontrunner regularly puts on news conferences or takes questions on the campaign trail. Last night, in the wake of his feud with Fox News, guess where Trump appeared: on Fox News!

Trump has already debated six times and constantly exposes himself to tough questions.

McCain closed things with a stirring defense of Michael Moore’s girlfriend and a status quo that for decades has failed everyone but the Elite Establishment:

I believe that Megyn Kelly is an outstanding journalist. But whether she is or not, that a candidate can decide who the questioners are would be a break down, as you know, of the system as we know it. The integrity of all journalists is compromised if this acton is allowed.

Thank heaven our current frontrunner doesn’t take advice from those who lose presidential elections.

McCain is so insulated from the Real World, he says “destruction of the press” as though it’s a bad thing.