Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thug Journalism

The New York Times has once again lowered itself to print articles you won't even find in the National Enquirer. It has unleashed a clear hatchet job article on Senator John McCain that is irresponsible and unbelievable.

The article is critical of McCain and suggests through inuendo (but has no facts to prove it) that he was involved in an affair with a lobbyist.

McCain addressed the article today and stated, “I’m very disappointed in The New York Times piece. It’s not true."

Rick Davis, McCain's Campaign Manager issued the following statement: "Today's front-page NewYork Times story is particularly disgusting - an un-sourced hit-and-run smear campaign designed to distract from the issues at stake in this election. With John McCain leading a number of general-election polls against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the New York Times knew the time to attack was now, and they did. We will not allow their scurrilous attack against a great American hero to stand. The New York Times -- the newspaper that gave MoveOn.org a sweetheart deal to run advertisements attacking General Petraeus -- has shown once again that it cannot exercise good journalistic judgment when it comes to dealing with a conservative Republican. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has led the charge to limit the money and influence of the special interests in politics and stomp out corruption. His life and his record prove just how preposterous the smear by the New York Times really is. Objective observers are viewing this article exactly as they should - as a sleazy smear attack from a liberal newspaper against the conservative Republican frontrunner. Sean Hannity said, after reading the article three times, "It was so full of innuendo and so lacking of fact, and so involved in smear, I came to the conclusion that the goal here was to bring up a 20-year-old scandal." Washington attorney Bob Bennett, who was the Democrat counsel during the Keating investigation, said, "This is a real hit job." Joe Scarborough called the allegations "outrageous." Even pundit Alan Colmes -- not known for his conservative leanings -- concludes"this is a non-story." Yet, it is there, right on the front page of the New York Times. It is now dominating the cable news coverage. We can only expect these sorts of baseless attacks to continue as we move into the general election cycle."

Shame on the New York Times. They have proven once again they practice an irresponsible thug journalism not worthy of reading.

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