Are journalists allowed to criticize John McCain?

Those who offered a dissenting or realistic view on McCain were rewarded with abuse. Laura McGann, politics editor of Vox, unleashed a lava storm of protest with these critical words just a few hours after he died: “Today, I’m told, we should pretend John McCain didn’t pick Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008.” Thousands upon thousands of Twitter respondents denounced McGann for the temerity to offer a dissenting view on McCain as he approached death. Maybe somebody should forward the samizdat chapter of the AP Stylebook to McGann so she doesn’t issue another honest postmortem.

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Journalists have long harbored a reputation for being hard-nosed cynics. But as the mourning for McCain proves, scratch their surface and sentimentality runs out of them sweeter than maple sap in the spring.

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