You Always Hurt the Ones You Love

In 2000 John McCain was the media darling. He certainly didn't get the kind of fawning attention that the Obamessiah now gets, but he was clearly the media's guy. He was often referred to as Sen. John McCain (Media-AZ). He was "Maverick", the gutsy no-nonsense guy who took on the conservative Christians and played footsie with Democrats. The press wanted him to be the GOP nominee, if not the president.

George W. Bush dashed the media's hopes and dreams, but the press didn't waver in their support for McCain. They continued to prop him up during those dark days of a year ago with it looked like his campaign was toast, and the NY Times even endorsed him in the New York primary with praise like this:

"Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe."

We're probably stuck with McCain today because the press made sure to destroy his opposition and leave him the last man standing.

Then, something happened. The Obamessiah descended from on high to bring light to the world and the press dropped McCain like a hot rock. They never really wanted McCain to win - they just wanted to help nominate a guy who wouldn't be too tough on Obama.

It hasn't turned out that way. McCain has been quick to poke holes in the aura of inevitibility that the press has tried to build around the Obamessiah with ads like "Celeb" and "The One", and the New York Times is livid. They've taken after him with stinging editorials all but calling him a racist, but McCain is fighting back:

WASHINGTON (Aug. 2) -- It is a tradition at many kitchen tables to yell at the newspaper. At John McCain's kitchen table, it is becoming a tradition to yell at one paper in particular: The New York Times.

The latest dustup between the Republican presidential candidate and the "All the News that's fit to Print" big-name newspaper centered on the editorial board's back-to-back criticisms of McCain, one dispatch accusing him of taking the low road and another contending that he was playing politics with race.

The second editorial, which appeared on the Times Web site, said McCain's ads conjured up loaded racial images and raised the specter of O.J. Simpson.

"The presumptive Republican nominee has embarked on a bare-knuckled barrage of negative advertising aimed at belittling Mr. Obama," the editorial board wrote.
The response from the McCain campaign was equally cutting.

"If the shareholders of The New York Times ever wonder why the paper's ad revenue is plummeting and its share price tanking, they need look no further than the hysterical reaction of the paper's editors to any slight, real or imagined, against their preferred candidate," said McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb.

Goldfarb compared the editors to a blogger "sitting at home in his mother's basement and ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons & Dragons."

Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis declined to comment on Friday.

The relationship between McCain -- a frequent reader of the newspaper -- and the Times has been rocky. Yet such a grudge could pay political dividends for the presidential candidate, as criticizing the liberal media often improves a candidate's standing with Republican Party conservatives. That's critical for McCain, who has never been their favorite.

The NY Times has sunk to such low esteem among average Americans that McCain can't lose by picking a fight with them.

By the way, for some reason the AP writer that did the story above didn't include the best part of the Goldfarb statement. Goldfarb didn't just mention bloggers as a generic term, but mentioned a wacky left blog by name:

That the Times made this allegation in a blog post rather than running it on the editorial page indicates that they either knew the charge was bogus or they didn't have the nerve to make their case in full view of the public. But in their new role as bloggers, the paper's editors seem to have all the intelligence and reason of the average Daily Kos diarist sitting at home in his mother's basement and ranting into the ether between games of dungeons and dragons. They also have about as much care for the facts--the "board" has already been forced to append a correction."

That's probably the most accurate portrayal of a DailyKos blogger than I've ever read.