McCain’s War Against the Gray Lady: A Timeline

[maddezmom]

The McCain campaign’s latest error-riddled outburst against the New York Times is but the latest spat in a campaign season full of discord between the storied news institution and the nearly-as-old John McCain. The press — what McCain once lovingly referred to as his “base” — has over time become an adversary, something to fear, manipulate, and possibly, down the line, destroy. No organization has been closer to the center of this crumbling relationship than the Times. To see how we got to this point, let’s take a stroll down memory lane.

January 1: In what it described as an easy choice, the Times endorses McCain in the Republican primary, praising his party-bucking stands on immigration reform, global warming, and torture. Everything seems fine … ominously fine.

February 21: The Gray Lady runs a lengthy investigation of McCain's inappropriate ties to lobbyists, with the sexiest, and, unsurprisingly, most controversial accusation of all being McCain's purported affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The Times was widely blasted for using anonymous sources as its key evidence for such a bold allegation. The McCain campaign claimed the Times "lowered its standards to engage in a hit-and-run smear campaign." And so it begins…

More: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/09/mccains_war_against_the_gray_l.html

[maddezmom]

1. 'NYT, ' After McCain Criticism, Hits Campaign Manager Again

'NYT, ' After McCain Criticism, Hits Campaign Manager Again

By E&P STaff

Published: September 23, 2008 9:10 PM ET

NEW YORK A New York Times story on Monday which revealed that John McCain's campaign manager had drawn nearly $2 million working for a firm that helped defend Freddie Mac drew an angry attack on the paper from the candidate's chief strategist. How would the paper respond in its coverage?

Tonight it posted on its site another probe of the campaign manager -- and his money related to Freddie Mac.

Executive Editor Bill Keller yesterday had responded to the almost unprecedented charges from strategist Steve Schmidt by saying that the paper would continue to cover the campaign in a strong, ethical way. Schmidt had declared that the Times was no longer even a "journalistic" entity but simply an Obama cheerleading squad.

Now the Times has come up with another damaging piece which places the payments to Davis as continuing to almost the present day -- contrary to statements made by Davis.

Here is how it opens, at www.nytimes.com
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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003854084