The Fromson File

Hearing John McCain complain about the media treatment he’s been getting or not getting lately reminds me of the 1964 presidential campaign of another Republican senator from Arizona. I was the CBS News producer responsible for supervising coverage of Barry Goldwater’s campaign when he and his aides maintained a steady barrage of complaints about the [...]

A few days ago, I wrote critically about continuing U.S. support for Afghanistan that was being endorsed by both presidential candidates. I was perhaps more tougher on Barack Obama who I reasoned was advocating getting out of one war and involving ourselves even more deeply in another, the drug captal of the world. Now, I [...]

The speculation about Barack Obama’s running mate seems to overlook the candidate most likely to challenge John McCain’s credentials as a national security expert.  Senator Jim Webb of Virginia enticed the pundits for weeks, but he dimissed himself from consideration. The focus then turned on other candidates with limited wartime experience in Vietnam.   That leaves only one [...]

Sometimes political purity can overcome common sense. First, Politico and then the July 10 New York Times disclosed how a decorated, disabled Vietnam hero was dis-invited from an Atlanta fund-raiser for Barack Obama a week earlier. It turns out that Max Cleland, a former Senator from Georgia and a triple amputee, was a lobbyist for a company named Tissue [...]