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Times/McCain Bugaboo
The Drudge Report revealed this morning that less than a week after running Barack Obama's "My Plan for Iraq" piece on the N.Y. Times Op-Ed page, the Times editorial board rejected a counterpoint Iraq War article written by John McCain. "The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's [piece] has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles," Drudge writes.
Obviously using material forwarded by either McCain campaign strategists or friends of same, Drudge quotes Times Op-Ed editor David Shirley as having said in an e-mail last Friday that "it would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece, [although] I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.'"
Drudge's piece includes the original McCain article. One portion of the article indicates, however, that the Times did McCain a roundabout favor by not running it.
"In 2007 [Obama] wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost," McCain wrote. "If we had taken his advice, it would have been. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance. To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future."
Hello? Despite his attempt to walk back his recent Der Spiegel statement, Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable. So McCain should be glad the piece didn't run. On top of the Times guys having given him a liberal-media-bias issue to run with for a few days, which will help his cause.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 21, 2008 at 3:26 PM
comment #1
corey3rd says ...
what McCain doesn't want to confess is what really has worked isn't the troop surge, but the millions of dollars that surged into Sadr City. Bribes are keeping the peace better than bullets. Greed is the only thing that over rides the blood lust. Also doesn't hurt that a majority of the country has been cleansed. They no longer have neighbors worth killing.
McCain really needs to quite pushing Hatin' as his campaign focus.
Posted by corey3rd at July 21, 2008 3:45 PM
comment #2
BurmaShave says ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25779945#25779945
The man is an incurious buffoon too chickenshit to even answer a simple question from Meredith Viera, who is not exactly Mike Wallace. He is a dunce unfit to be President.
Posted by BurmaShave at July 21, 2008 3:55 PM
comment #3
Josh Massey says ...
I love that the New York Times op-ed editor served in the Clinton administration. They're not even trying anymore.
Posted by Josh Massey at July 21, 2008 4:01 PM
comment #4
Balthazar says ...
Meanwhile, McCain is trying to steal some Obama World Tour spotlight by announcing (or threatening to announce) the VP choice this week.
Obvious money is on Mitt Romney, but here's a wild name that's suddenly jumping to surface: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/07/mccain_to_meet_with_jindal.html
Posted by Balthazar at July 21, 2008 4:10 PM
comment #5
Balthazar says ...
Meanwhile, it's slighly OT, but here's a story that needs to be read: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/21/ccview121.xml
Obama, if and when he wins, will be inheriting a shitstorm of epic proportions.
Posted by Balthazar at July 21, 2008 4:14 PM
comment #6
BurmaShave says ...
Jindal has been talked about for weeks, and would be a disaster in every way.
Posted by BurmaShave at July 21, 2008 4:42 PM
comment #7
Balthazar says ...
Disaster for Republicans, you mean, Burma?
Posted by Balthazar at July 21, 2008 4:47 PM
comment #8
D.Z. says ...
Josh: "I love that the New York Times op-ed editor served in the Clinton administration."
And I love that global war deniers are shills for major oil companies.
Posted by D.Z. at July 21, 2008 4:56 PM
comment #9
corey3rd says ...
McCain needs to spice up his speeches by judging a wet T-shirt contest. And notice how young George HW Bush looks next to McCain?
Shouldn't McCain post his editorials in the Wall Street journal now that its the fancy version of the NY Post?
Posted by corey3rd at July 21, 2008 4:59 PM
comment #10
Josh Massey says ...
D.Z.: As in thermonuclear?
Posted by Josh Massey at July 21, 2008 5:07 PM
comment #11
BurmaShave says ...
yes Balthazar, for four reasons I can think of off the top of my head.
1) He is 36 years old, almost only half McCain's age. This would do nothing but enhance the Senator's appearance of decrepitude. Hell, he was standing next to George HW Bush the other day and he looked older by ten years even though the opposite is true.
2) Jindal has one House term and less than 10 months in the Governor's mansion on his resume. This completely blows the experience argument against Obama, and would open up McCain to questions about whether or not he actually values experience vs. judgement.
3) Jindal is a religious extremist who has admitted to participating in an exorcism.
4) It pains me to say this last one, but McCain's only real hope is keeping this election close and relying on bigots. He's not going to win these people over with an Indian American Catholic.
Posted by BurmaShave at July 21, 2008 6:12 PM
comment #12
D.Z. says ...
From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_newspaper
:
In an e-mail to the campaign on Friday, David Shipley, an op-ed editor at the newspaper, said he could not accept the piece in its current form, but would look at another version. In the e-mail, released by McCain's campaign, Shipley wrote that McCain's article would "have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the senator's Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan."
...The newspaper said it has published at least seven of McCain's op-ed pieces since 1996. "We take his views very seriously," the statement said...
Posted by D.Z. at July 21, 2008 9:51 PM
comment #13
Movie Watcher says ...
Fox news,of course, was all over it. Who gives a shit if McCain's aritcle is or isn't in the NY Times? So he can always have it in the Wall St. Journal. McCain shooting his mouth off at the Bush place in Maine, that was funny. He says I know how to win a war. Did he forget that we lost in Vietnam? And people are seriously considering this guy for prez? The bullshit is amazing...
Posted by Movie Watcher at July 22, 2008 2:51 AM
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