February 21, 2008
PAVLOV'S PUNDITS:
Conservative Media Attack New York Times (JENNIFER PARKER, Feb. 21, 2008, ABC News)
There is nothing in it here that you can say is true," said conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh on his radio show Thursday afternoon of the story."It is beyond disgraceful," said Sean Hannity on his radio show Thursday afternoon. "There's not throughout this entire article, a shred of evidence to corroborate or back up what the lead of this entire story is."
Hannity's guest, Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, who has endorsed McCain, said the Times "puked up a nine year old rumor and put it on the front page of the New York Times with no corroboration, no named sources."
Were one conspiracy minded, it woul;d be easyt to imagine that Maverick planted the story himself knowing that the Beltway Right would side with him against the Times. Especially since it's a story attacking him where he's invulnerable. It's 8 years too late to try and portray him as an insider peddling influence. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2008 4:39 PM
It does show why McCain will be such a horrible president however.
He was so mortified at his role in the Keating 5 fiasco that he went whacko and the result was CFR.
Every one of his apostasies can be traced to his belief that he had besmirched his honor in some way and needed to enact some grand out in the open pennance.
Problem is he screwed the country every time and he'll do it again...
Posted by: Benny at February 21, 2008 6:09 PMI'm sure that Hannity and Rush welcome the opportunity to get back to "us vs. them" instead of "us vs. us." I know I haven't felt like tuning into those guys during the recent McCain Derangement phase. It's much more fun when they're sticking it to the lefties.
I'm also noticing a lot of, "I always said I would never support McCain, but I just might vote for him after this smear," in conservative blog commentary too.
Posted by: David Hill, The Bronx at February 21, 2008 6:20 PMI'm sure that Hannity and Rush welcome the opportunity to get back to "us vs. them" instead of "us vs. us." I know I haven't felt like tuning into those guys during the recent McCain Derangement phase. It's much more fun when they're sticking it to the lefties.
I'm also noticing a lot of, "I always said I would never support McCain, but I just might vote for him after this smear," in conservative blog commentary, too.
Posted by: David Hill, The Bronx at February 21, 2008 6:30 PMOh, man. And I was going to try and submit this brilliant comment one more time.
Posted by: David Hill, The Bronx at February 21, 2008 6:44 PMNow if Bush had gotten the drunk driving story out there this early in 2000 . . .
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at February 21, 2008 6:50 PMUs vs. us plays better for indie pickups no? Like to see that game go longer.
Posted by: Perry at February 21, 2008 7:26 PMScrewed the country? That's a triumph of rage over reality. 70% of the American people supported CFR, a GOP congress passed it easily, a GOP president ran on it and signed it and a GOP Court upheld it.
Posted by: oj at February 21, 2008 9:33 PMIf McCain runs against the Times, he will bring loads of votes with him. What are the Dems going to do, point to the Times as their muse and guiding light? Heck, the DOJ is likely to indict Lichtblau, Riesen, and Bill Keller for all the NSA stories they have run since the middle of '06. That'll turn off 70% of the country right there.
And if Cindy McCain attacks them directly, instead of mewling the way Hillary did in 1992, what are they going to do? It was self-evident that Bill Clinton had women problems, but the media generally went along with his "aw shucks, I know I haven't been perfect" act. Had Hillary thrown a few punches at them, Gennifer Flowers would have been on '60 Minutes', breathlessly talking about how Bill seduced her and then heartlessly dumped her.
So McCain has plenty of room to insult and dismiss the Times (and any other media outfit), and not just on this story. Their adulation of the past 8 years pretty much inoculates him (provided the smears have no real meat behind them, which this one doesn't seem to). I wonder if he is laughing his "angry" face off in private.
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 21, 2008 11:24 PMOJ:
Great title, BTW.
But remember, the "GOP Court" is very likely going to gut CFR this term. And don't tell us 70% of America supported McCain-Feingold. 70% of most random street polls don't support many of the first 10 Amendments, either. If you ask Joe or Jane if politics is tainted by money, what result do you expect? If you ask them a more specific question, you will get a very different answer. And just how is Senator Granny D these days?
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 21, 2008 11:31 PMYes, in a democracy the people get what they want.
Posted by: oj at February 22, 2008 7:32 AM... good and hard.
Posted by: Ibid at February 22, 2008 8:38 AM