There are questions circulating whether or not John McCain was in a "Cone of Silence" during the Obama segment of the Pastor Rick Warren interview at Saddleback Church. Pastor Warren had assured viewers that McCain was out of the hearing loop..in a sound proof room and now is surprised to learn McCain was out of the building.

When NBC's Andrea Mitchell revealed to Pastor Rick Warren on Meet The Press, that McCain was not in the "Cone of Silence" as promised, the McCain camp charged that NBC was biased.

Via Huffpost

NYT Backs Up NBC

The claim in question was made by Andrea Mitchell on yesterday's broadcast of "Meet the Press," while discussing McCain and Obama's respective performance during the Saddlebeck Forum on Faith led by Pastor Rick Warren. The full quote is as follows:

MITCHELL: The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that -- what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.... He seemed so well-prepared

In a letter, reprinted by Mike Allen of Politico,- McCain protests NBC coverage - Davis stated that the claim was "completely unsubstantiated" and a "blatant falsehood."

The McCain Letter to NBC:

August 17, 2008
Mr. Steve Capus
President, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Steve:

We are extremely disappointed to see that the level of objectivity at NBC News has fallen so low that reporters are now giving voice to unsubstantiated, partisan claims in order to undercut John McCain.

Nowhere was this more evident than with NBC chief correspondent Andrea Mitchell's comments on "Meet the Press" this morning. In analyzing last night's presidential forum at Saddleback Church, Mitchell expressed the Obama campaign spin that John McCain could only have done so well last night because he "may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama." Here are Andrea Mitchell's comments in full:

Mitchell: "The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because what they are putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama. He seemed so well-prepared." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 8/17/08)

Make no mistake: This is a serious charge. Andrea Mitchell is repeating, uncritically, a completely unsubstantiated Obama campaign claim that John McCain somehow cheated in last night's forum at Saddleback Church. Instead of trying to substantiate this blatant falsehood in any way, Andrea Mitchell felt that she needed to repeat it on air to millions of "Meet the Press" viewers with no indication that 1.) There's not one shred of evidence that it's true; 2.) In his official correspondence to both campaigns, Pastor Rick Warren provided both candidates with information regarding the topic areas to be covered, which Barack Obama acknowledged during the forum when asked about Pastor Warren's idea of an emergency plan for orphans and Obama said, "I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea ahead of time, and I think it is a great idea;" 3.) John McCain actually requested that he and Barack Obama do the forum together on stage at the same time, making these kinds of after-the-fact complaints moot.

Indeed, instead of taking a critical journalistic approach to this spin, Andrea Mitchell did what has become a pattern for her of simply repeating Obama campaign talking points.

This is irresponsible journalism and sadly, indicative of the level of objectivity we have witnessed at NBC News this election cycle. Instead of examining the Obama campaign's spin for truth before reporting it to more than 3 million NBC News viewers, Andrea Mitchell simply passed along Obama campaign conspiracy theories. The fact is that during Senator Obama's segment at Saddleback last night, Senator McCain was in a motorcade to the event and then held in a green room with no broadcast feed. In the forum, John McCain clearly demonstrated to the American people that he is prepared to be our next President.....

From Huffpost: Seelye in the NYT corroborates Mitchell's report

Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn't in a Cone of Silence"

Senator John McCain was not in a "cone of silence" on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California... The matter is of interest because Mr. McCain, who followed Mr. Obama's hourlong appearance in the forum, was asked virtually the same questions as Mr. Obama.

Mr. McCain's performance was well received, raising speculation among some viewers, especially supporters of Mr. Obama, that he was not as isolated during the Obama interview as Mr. Warren implied.

(snip)

Mr. Warren, the pastor of Saddleback, had assured the audience while he was interviewing Mr. Obama that "we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence" and that he could not hear the questions... Interviewed Sunday on CNN, Mr. Warren seemed surprised to learn that Mr. McCain was not in the building during the Obama interview.

(emphasis added)

Huffpost notes:

But even without Seelye, Mitchell was corroborated...by Davis. He wrote, "The fact is that during Senator Obama's segment at Saddleback last night, Senator McCain was in a motorcade to the event and then held in a green room with no broadcast feed." That means that he was not in the cone of silence during the Obama questioning, confirming Mitchell's report.

(emphasis added)

The McCain camp would like to turn the question on the fact both candidates knew the generalities of the questions to be asked.  The claim is not that they knew the questions before appearing - Obama admitted to that.  

The point is McCain  was in a position to hear Obama's answers...gaining an advantage to reposition himself outside of the rules of engagement.

Are we surprised?  These rethugs have offered proof once AGAIN that we may think it's a fair fight, but....they've to cheat to win it.

Hey, personally, I'm waiting to read that Obama- when asked about the possible use of blackberries and text messaging - played nice; AGAIN and has defended McCain saying..:

'..McCain did not know he was out of the building.'

Betcha.