Steph Shills for Obama on Blowing Off Townhalls

You'd think a guy who has demonstrated such flexibility on everything from campaign finance to NAFTA to the Second Amendment to the surge could find a way to wangle some townhall meetings with John McCain into his schedule. But gosh darn it, that would just be too tough for Barack Obama, explains George Stephanopoulos.  The "This Week" host made his excuses for the Dem candidate on today's Good Morning America.

BILL WEIR: The Obama campaign just agreed to three debates after the McCain campaign called for ten or so townhall meetings.  Given his oratory skills, why won't Obama answer that townhall challenge?

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I think a lot of it had to do with the primary calendar. The primaries ran so late that by the time they were all wrapped up, the Obama campaign felt that if they got into these week-by-week town They wouldn't have been able to go on the European trip; they wouldn't have been able to do their bus trips through the Midwest.  He wouldn't be able to take his vacation in August, which he's really looking forward to, from the 8th to the 15th.  

View video here.

It was only when Steph ran out of excuses that he got around to some truth-telling.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And they also didn't want to play on John McCain's turf, to be frank.

"To be frank"?  So it was a strain for Stephanopoulos to tell the truth rather than regurgitate lame lines from the Obama campaign?