I'll certainly agree that the good Major won him over. That's one of the reasons they picked the good Major in the first place: for his ability to talk to anybody, and win over most.
A civilized journalist is a pushover for a guy like that. Not only is the journalist basically polite, but he's also arrogant enough to think that he's got the intellectual upper hand on the Good Major. In reality, these SF officers tend to be really smart -- the best of the best. They're born leaders, and it's pretty difficult not to be won over by them.
I wonder if Maass realizes it yet ... and whether it would bother him.