Why did John McCain bring any press at all with him to the hurricane?

Joe found this little tidbit in an article earlier today:

Mr. McCain plans to go to Jackson, Miss., which is inland, with his wife, Cindy, and his newly-selected running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, his campaign said. Mr. McCain will take only a small pool of reporters, and will tour a hurricane center with Gov. Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor.

Why did he take any? Would he take reporters to a funeral? No. Why take reporters on a trip that supposedly isn't political? A trip to a national disaster? And the fact that McCain is only taking a "small pool of reporters" means that McCain has control over how many reporters he takes - McCain CHOSE to take this small pool. That means he could have chosen to take no reporters at all. And, guess who was chosen to be in that "small pool"? Carl Cameron from FOX, of course.

When Barack Obama had planned to visit injured troops in Germany, he wasn't going to bring any reporters at all. Obama canceled his trip to visit the troops because the Bush-McCain Pentagon tried to claim that the trip was political theater. But John McCain apparently isn't beyond political theater. The media needs to ask John McCain why he is bringing reporters with him on a trip to this looming disaster. It looks an awful lot like McCain is trying to take political advantage of human suffering. Though I guess it's a step up from sharing a birthday cake with George Bush.