Might John McCain's campaign not have any clue whatsoever about the Internet, but understand how to manage — that is, to piss off — the media with requited abandon?

There's a conspiracy theory floating around that the McCain aides fielding questions during conference calls with reporters are not subscribing to the usual operating procedure of these things — where any reporter can anonymously dial the toll-free number, dial *1, and wait in a queue to ask a question, no matter what media outlet they're phoning in for — but instead are screening reporters ahead of time, leaving many liberals on the McCain trail without much access.

What gave it away? Maybe it's the way the campaign insists reporters identify themselves by name and media outlet. Or maybe it's the pause between questions that lets aides cherry pick who the next caller will be, rather than going down the question line one by one.

This has caused several journalists who have participated in these calls to wonder: is the McCain campaign screening reporters, and, if so, on what basis? A reporter for a progressive media outlet says that he has tried at least half a dozen times to ask a question on a McCain conference call and has had never been selected.

The same has happened to me. No matter how quickly I press *1, I'm never afforded the opportunity to pose a question. During a June 27 McCain campaign call with former Republican Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift (who was deriding Obama for holding a unity rally with Hillary Clinton at Unity, New Hampshire), I raised my hand, electronically. Two reporters were called on–one from AOL News, the other from the Tampa Tribune–and then the McCain aide hosting the call said, "Seems we are out of questions," and ended the call. My hand was still up.

So, is this a regular thing?

During a July 1 McCain campaign call featuring Senator Lindsey Graham and Orson Swindle (who was a Vietnam POW with McCain), only two questions were taken–both from conservative bloggers. The first came from Ed Morrissey, who asked Graham and Swindle, "Can you explain the significance of John McCain's command experience in the Navy…as well as whatever leadership he has shown in the Senate….and can you address…that Barack Obama doesn't have any executive experience at all?" The next query came from Matt Lewis. Referencing retired General Wesley Clark's recent comment that McCain's military service and POW experience did not qualify him to be president, Lewis asked Graham and Swindle if Clark's remark was part of "a concerted effort by the Obama campaign, or can liberals simply not keep themselves from attacking the military?" Then the call was over. Had it been merely a coincidence that the only questioners had been rightwing bloggers who had served up soft balls?

But isn't McCain supposedly all about being open with the press?

One campaign reporter says that after he published stores that were not to the liking of the McCain campaign, its press office threatened to cut him off. And several weeks ago, during a conference call, an operator came on the line and told me that I "was no longer needed" on the call. Though I explained I was a journalist listening to the call, the operator said he had been told to unplug me. I protested the decision, and he said he would check and get right back. The operator never returned, and I remained on the call. But during the question period, I was not called on.

[Mother Jones]