Adam Nagourney, like so many of the old gang from the Straight Talk Express, seem to miss their old friend, John McCain:

There are now not one but two drawn curtains on Mr. McCain’s plane separating his spacious quarters from the press corps. Left idle is the couch that was built in the front of the plane — called “Straight Talk Air” — to reproduce at 30,000 feet the freewheeling chats with reporters that were the stock-in-trade on his bus; the other morning it was covered with newspapers. Mr. McCain, who promised to hold weekly news conferences if elected president, has not held one in more than a month.

Two curtains! How cruel. The traveling press was so looking forward to sitting in that couch.

It’s hard to lose a friend because that friend start hanging out with a new crowd. But, that’s what happened to all the reporters who used to love hanging out with John McCain. Under the tutelage of the Karl Rove crew, that old John McCain has morphed into somebody new:

These days, Mr. McCain sounds less like his old self than Bob Dole, another Republican senator who ran for president in 1996, sounded in the closing days of his campaign — speaking louder or repeating statements that he thinks might be overlooked. “The American economy is in a crisis!” Mr. McCain said. “It’s in a crisis!”

To the press corps, McCain has become Bob Dole. Ouch. That’s what McCain gets for ditching them.