So, did they drop the dime on themselves? McCain's NYT haters pour $$ his way.

[seafan]

Pretty convenient, eh? Gotta find someone or something against whom to level their bitter, ideological hatred.


Less than a day after the NYT story on McCain's lobbyist shenanigans appeared in print, the RNC blasted e-mails to supporters:

Here's why Americans are so cynical about politics: Less than 24 hours after the New York Times published the story, the Republican National Committee sent an e-mail to party activists that used the story to solicit "urgent" contributions of $25 to $1,000. "Help us get our message past the liberal media filter," the e-mail said. "Donate today."

We came full circle within a single news cycle: A story about money and politics became a tool ... to bring more money into politics.

McCain Gathers Support and Donations in Aftermath of Article in The Times



Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
Senator John McCain spoke Friday in Indianapolis as his campaign reported his best-ever 24-hour period of online fund-raising.


By ELISABETH BUMILLER
February 23, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS — Senator John McCain declared the battle over on Friday morning, but by then his lieutenants believed he had already won the war.

Conservative radio talk show hosts who had long reviled Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate from Arizona, had rallied to his defense. Bloggers on the right said that this could be the start of a new relationship. Most telling, Mr. McCain’s campaign announced Friday afternoon that it had just recorded its single-best 24 hours in online fund-raising, although it declined to provide numbers.

Both sides traced the senator’s sudden fortunes to an unusual source, The New York Times, which on Wednesday night published on its Web site an article about Mr. McCain’s close ties to a female lobbyist who did business before the senator’s committee. That evening, two of the senator’s top advisers, Mark Salter and Steve Schmidt, flew to an emergency strategy session in Toledo, Ohio, where Mr. McCain was campaigning.

By Thursday morning, when the article appeared in the print editions of The Times, the McCain campaign had begun an aggressive attack against the newspaper, calling the article a smear campaign worthy of The National Enquirer. It was a symphony to the ears of Mr. McCain’s conservative critics.

Operating on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, many conservatives who had long distrusted Mr. McCain on a variety of issues, including his peculiar fondness for talking to reporters for hours on end, rallied to see him at war with a newspaper they revile as a voice of the left.

.....

Later that afternoon, the McCain campaign began using The Times in an fund-raising appeal sent by e-mail to supporters. “Well, here we go,” the letter from Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, began, then outlined what it characterized as the newspaper’s smear campaign. Mr. Davis quickly got to the point: “We need your help to counteract the liberal establishment and fight back against The New York Times by making an immediate contribution today.”

By Friday, the campaign was tracing its jump in fund-raising directly to the article in The Times.

.....

If Bush's rabid right cannot have Hillary Clinton to rally their hatred around for much longer, they MUST resurrect their froth against one of their last described enemies, namely New York Times.


We are witnessing the annihilation of the GOP.

[patrice]

1. Classically ethical Republicans started dying when Reagan was pResident. nt

[C_U_L8R]

2. WWKRD

what would Karl Rove do?

[bluedawg12]

3. I smell turdblossom in the air. Good point! n/t

[NNN0LHI]

4. The more whack jobs like Limbaugh praise McCain the more independents will hate him

And McCain relies heavily on ignorant independent voters.

This is all good.

Don

[crikkett]

5. Deft move to turn a weakness into a strength. I don't think he outed himself

but I do think he influenced the timing of the message.

[johnfunk]

6. New McCain campaign slogan...

[Romulox]

7. NYT has taken a *sharp* turn to the right recently

What makes you think they didn't calculate this story to help McCain? :shrug: