New York Times defends not running McCain op-ed

[maddezmom]

Source: AP


WASHINGTON - The New York Times defended its decision not to publish an op-ed article as submitted by Republican John McCain about the Iraq war on grounds it customarily reviews such pieces with the author.

McCain's presidential campaign sent the newspaper the op-ed on Friday. In it, the Arizona senator describes how the buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq has helped curb violence. He also chides his Democratic rival Barack Obama for outlining his plan for Iraq before his current meetings with commanders and Iraqi leaders on the ground.

In an e-mail to the campaign on Friday, David Shipley, an op-ed editor at the newspaper, said he could not accept the piece in its current form, but would look at another version. In the e-mail, released by the McCain campaign, Shipley wrote that McCain's article would "have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the senator's Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan."

Commenting Monday on the Times' request, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "John McCain believes that victory in Iraq must be based on conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables. Unlike Barack Obama, that position will not change based on politics or the demands of The New York Times."
~snip~
"It is standard procedure on our op-ed page, and that of other newspapers, to go back and forth with an author on his or her submission. We look forward to publishing Sen. McCain's views in our paper just as we have in the past."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_newspaper

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. McCain hasn't a clue

[blue52power]

19. NYTimes was Wrong

On two levels:

1. The people deserve to see the writings of both Presidential candidates. This is a good thing because voters will see the flawed logic in McCain's proposed policies. We want everybody to see his poor writing syle and bad take on the issues.

2. The media should allow free speech by both candidates out of principle. The election process shouldn't be interfered with. I don't want this type of restriction placed on a liberal some time in the future.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

21. he had the option to re submit it didn't he?

[guitar man]

23. well then

maybe it's time we re-institute the fairness doctrine the pubs like to bitch about so much. Looks like it bit Johnny square on the ass to not have it in place. ;)

[fascisthunter]

2. NY Times Doesn't want to Carry Water for the Neo-nuts anymore

ha ha

[wellst0nev0ter]

15. Then How Do You Explain Bill Kristol? (n/t)

[fascisthunter]

18. I Don't but Maybe You Could

when did he start writing for NYT? Wasn't that before this.... well, my point is, they may be starting to distance themselves from the neo-nut trip. Let's see what happens to Kristol, however I doubt they'll ditch him, not before more dirt comes out on him or the neo-con policies that have screwed this country and Iraq.

[Faygo Kid]

3. No paper can be forced to carry an op-ed - particularly if it's substandard.

McCain's writers have nothing to say.

The Times is offering him space. All he has to do is come up with a product that isn't what a dog deposits on the pavement. Seems fair enough to me.

[monmouth]

4. FReepers heads are exploding over this. The NYT is the worst

thing ever..well, since Obama at least..Hahaha.

[tulsakatz]

8. that's true.......

a conservative friend of mine has already sent me some stuff on this....

[depakid]

5. No one's going to hear their nuance

The only thing that's going to be repeated OVER AND OVER throughout the echo chamber in the corporate media is:

NY Times unfair to McCain.

[librechik]

6. Wha--Why--Requiring a Republican to demonstrate the factual basis of his thesis???OUTRAGEOUS!

that's just for Dem weenies. Republicans should be trusted just because they yell so loud and wear a flag pin.

[humbled_opinion]

7. Well in defense of the NY Times..

They are interested in selling Newspapers. Why would they print garbage that no one wants to read anyway?

[redirish28]

9. I hate to say this but I think the NYTs should have published it

For one it would have allowed the American people read McCain's view point and decide for themselves IF that is the view point they want to have in the White House.


Also they could have invited Obama to do an op-ed on the topic as well....

[frylock]

10. i believe this was a rebuttal to an op-ed written by obama and run in the nyt

[amandabeech]

12. If the NYT published something by Obama on this topic,

then I think that they should run something by McCain. Even-handedness during a presidential election is good journalism, IMHO.

I assume that the McCain staff can come up with something publishable with editing by the Times. I wouldn't agree with it, but I don't think everyone who is conservative is an idiot, and I'm speaking from personal experience.

To do otherwise invites charges of bias, and if I were the Times, I wouldn't go looking for that tag.

The NYT is not doing itself any favors here.

[frylock]

13. they've stated that they're more than happy to oblige..

they just want a rewrite. it seems the NYT actually wants something a little more substantive than stay the course, blahblahblah. if mccombover can provide details as to how his plan is better, than they'll print it.

[amandabeech]

14. They should.

Thanks for the info.

[pretzel4gore]

11. the nytimes is run by criminals...

and they're aiding/abetting the reactionary mccain somehow (probably reinforcing the fiction the mass media is 'liberal' while acting hard-to-get with mcain's backers and sucking in those liberals who forget about judas miller etc). These guys think like a really ugly smelly laffing hyena thinks
Btw if anyone wants proof of the nytimes criminality, then look at bush's 8 years as US prez- if anyone needs more then that, they should vote for old mcinsane..isn't the iraq war illegal?

[creeksneakers2]

16. McCain, the RNC and all of wingutville

is in an all out effort to say they are getting the short end of the stick from the media. The truth is McCain has been getting away with murder and Obama is under strictest scrutiny and worse.

I monitor NBC and its the best network for Obama. Still, here are some of the things I've seen:

Every new McCain commercial is run on the Nightly News without analysis or balance. They just announce that McCain has a new commercial out and run it. No Obama commercials run.

McCain tells flat out lies and he's never questioned on them. McCain is covered by Kelly O'Donnell who so far hasn't asked McCain any difficult questions. She barely ever asks any at all.

Not one McCain's dozens of flip flops has been recognized but NBC spent several weeks on stories about how Obama "ran to the middle."

Every McCain campaign event day gets covered exactly the way the McCain camp describes it.

Every attack from McCain gets covered even if it is the same charge that's been aired night after night.

Reports on Obama are almost always hit pieces that use McCain/RNC talking points. Often, Obama is given no chance to respond. Often, the McCain attacks are given as factual information.

No attacks from Obama are ever covered.

NBC spent an entire month on the Reverend Wright guilt by association smear and a week on comments Wesley Clark never even made. When Phil Gramm said Americans are whiners NBC put an analyst on that said statements that aren't made by the candidates themselves aren't important. The story died after one night. Even on that one night they qualified what Gramm said for half the report before they quoted him.

No mention up until it was impossible to hide about us being asked to leave Iraq. No questions were asked about McCain's supposed knowledge turning out wrong or his claims that Obama didn't know what was going on in Iraq when the opposite turned out to be true.

I could go on and on. Now McCain's thugs have now established that its unfair for Obama's trip to get more coverage than McCain. NBC responded by giving equal time to McCain. How does McCain use his time that was awarded for allegedly not getting enough press? Complaining about not getting enough press! NBC found time to do a story (this one) about how the New York Times didn't run a McCain press release verbatim.

[Ilsa]

17. Let his campaign buy a page for their drivel, because it is really just

a campaign ad. Good for the NYT for saying "no".

[anonymous171]

20. Why doesn't McCain simply rework it until the it is suitable for publishing?

Why all the whining?

[ieoeja]

22. So McCain is Ann Coulter?

She too refused to work with the editor and got canned for it.

Though in her case, the editors just wanted to make the article literate.