Goldfarb speaks!

Back on Halloween, I had harsh words for then-McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb's references--during an appearance on CNN--to an unnamed and (allegedly) anti-Semitic Friend of Obama.

Now, in an interview with Columbia Journalism Review's Kate Klonick, Goldfarb discusses that appearance and how it was received, inside and outside the campaign:

KK: One of the most memorable moments in the campaign involving you was your much-watched  interview with CNN’s Rick Sanchez, where you danced around naming Jeremiah Wright as an anti-Semite. When I Googled your name, links to that video were the first thing that popped up. The liberal blogs vilified you for that exchange, and I think there was a moment in the video where you suddenly recognized that the whole interview was going to be put on YouTube and go viral. What was the campaign’s reaction to the clip? Did you get much response from it outside the communications office?

MG: I was summoned to the office of the campaign manager and given a slap on the wrist. We had a clear directive that we were not to discuss the name of Rev. Wright, and I tiptoed right up to it but I wasn’t allowed to cross it. But when I walked back into the communications room I got a round of applause. There was a lot of support among the rank and file; I think it was obvious to anyone that seriously followed the campaign what was going on there. I can’t tell if people were being willfully ignorant or if they generally don’t believe that [Obama] associated with those kinds of people. But that was a mistake from a communications standpoint [emph. added].

That's the interview in a nutshell. On the one hand, Goldfarb seems think the McCain campaign's decision to mount a sustained attack on the media was a bad idea. On the other, he clearly holds the press as a whole in contempt, and sounds downright proud of the work he did carrying McCain's anti-media banner. An odd combination.