Stop the presses: The New York Times is no longer a legitimate news organization and has become a political action committee working for Sen. Barack Obama. So says Steve Schmidt, the chief operating officer of Sen. John McCain’s campaign. He held a press conference earlier this week to run down the press, and specifically the Times, for pointing out how McCain campaign manager Rick Davis received $2 million as president of an advocacy group set up by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prevent stricter regulations.
It’s particularly embarrassing since McCain has tried to point out Obama’s loose ties to the mortgage giants.
“Whatever The New York Times once was, it is not today by any standard a journalistic organization,” Schmidt said Monday. “It is a pro-Obama organization that every day attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. Palin, and excuses Sen. Obama.”
How can he talk at all when his mouth is brimming full of sour lemons?
Schmidt is trying to intimidate the press and turn voters against newspapers. It’s a tactic that is tried every time a politician doesn’t like what is said about them in print. And when handlers squawk loudly enough, a portion of voters listen.
No politician has benefitted more from a friendly press than John McCain. His straight talk in 2000 so stunned journalists by its candor that the press is as much responsible for McCain’s primary win this year than any other faction: The media kept McCain on the front page when his campaign foundered and his campaign finances dried up and during a time when evangelicals were ripping him apart.
McCain and his handlers need to stop attacking the press and start attacking Obama on the issues. The GOP nominee should be proactive and get off the defensive. The fact is the press has called McCain on being dishonest about his campaign manager.
The Times didn’t help itself earlier this year when it ran a less-than-stellar piece alleging McCain had an affair with a lobbyist.
As ill-advised as that piece was, the Times’ latest reporting on Davis’ conflicts of interest is fair game, however, particularly in light of a $700 billion bailout and the worst financial calamity since the Great Depression.
The Times has become a dirty word among conservatives because its editorial board is decidedly liberal. There are plenty of conservative editorial pages in this country as well.
But opinion pages and news reporting have no connection with each other. And politicians should stop blurring those lines for voters who don’t know better.
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