Blue Crab Boulevard

McCain Camp Declares War

Senior members of the John McCain campaign have openly declared that they are going to war with the New York Times over the paper's smear story about McCain.

The McCain campaign is using a two-pronged attack to push back against the story. First, they’ll argue it was a thinly sourced piece of innuendo journalism. But McCain aides will also strike at the source, using the Times’ liberal reputation as a means of self-defense to draw sympathy from the GOP’s conservative base.

To this end, a top McCain adviser accused the paper of practicing tabloid journalism.

“It’s not every night I stay up to read the National Enquirer,” said Charlie Black, who was with other top McCain aides at the senator’s Arlington, Va., headquarters to mount the counterattack.

Black noted he had taken heat from some of his “conservative friends’ after McCain won the paper’s endorsement in January. “We’re going to go to war with them now,” Black said. “We’ll see if that hurts or helps.”

As part of their pushback, McCain’s campaign issued the detailed response they sent to the paper in December when the story was being prepared. McCain campaign officials said the paper did not sufficiently include these explanations in their story.

The publication of the Times story has pushed the issue into the media today and many other media outlets are reporting the innuendo that was layered into that hit piece. But McCain's spokesmen are pounding right back on the morning news shows. They are hitting very hard, too. Oddly enough, this incident is quite likely to get many conservatives to rally around McCain. In that respect, the story is a massive backfire.

Politics | Gaius Thursday, 21 February , 2008

By NortonPete, Thursday, 21 February , 2008 @ 8:36 am

I had CNN on because of reception issues and watched the McCain news conference and then listened a bit to Bill Bennett who was saying basically the same thing. The times article, with anonymous sources, will help McCain.
By Other Ed, Thursday, 21 February , 2008 @ 9:30 am

The romantic part is just the fluff, the real damaging part of the story is the fact that McCain is using corporate jets of Paxon Communications at the time they have business in front of the FCC, especially when you’ve built a reputation as having "seen the light "after the Keating Five affair. It may not be illegal but it sure is a questionable ethical practice.
At least with incident, the Keating Five incident and the pressure he brought to bear to cover up Cindy McCain’s theft and usage of drugs from her medical charity incident, it’s obvious his ethical lapses are for friends and family, not money.
By DavidL, Thursday, 21 February , 2008 @ 9:44 am

John McCain attacks his base. What more do you need to know about Pinch Sulzberger than he had the story in December and endorsed McCain in January. Pinch must be betting the farm on Obama. There a dozen of better sources and more recent stories pertaining to the Clintons..
By Gary Gulrud, Thursday, 21 February , 2008 @ 10:55 am

"this incident is quite likely to get many conservatives to rally around McCain"
Pardon my cynicism but the Grey Whore knew this also. Have they even decided how their vignette will end? Have they even decided on who they will back?
By syn, Thursday, 21 February , 2008 @ 11:32 am

McCain willingly stepped in the doo-doo so many warned would be bad thing to do especially when he rallied around the NY Times as they went against Bush, he’s going to have to come up with something far better than expecting voters to rally around his soiled shoes to clean up his self-made mess.
I’m voting for the troops and their mission even if it means McCain; I’m spending all my money and time rallying around the troops, McCain needs to work harder at rallying votes.
McCain’s war with the NY TImes should have begun years ago, back when the NY TImes leaked national security secrets in order to get Bush.
By David M, Thursday, 21 February , 2008 @ 1:40 pm

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - <a href="http://thunderrun.blogspot.com/2008/02/web-reconnaissance-for-02212008.html"> Web Reconnaissance for 02/21/2008 </a> A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.