FINALLY ! McCain Camp Blasts the NY Times

Word to Senator McCain, some of us in the Blog-world are tired doing the "heavy lifting" alone at least when it comes to the Mainstream Media.. Its about time someone in your campaign blasted the New York Times, Thank you Steve Schmidt During a conference call with the press, Schmidt was asked about an article that appeared in the Times yesterday. It tied McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis to a lobbying group set up by troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That's when Schmidt let loose, calling the Grey Lady an Obama advocacy group, and that's the NICEST thing he said:

Mike Allen
McCain aide: NYT not legit news source

Steve Schmidt, a McCain campaign senior adviser, declared on a conference call with reporters Monday that The New York Times “is not a journalistic organization.”

“Whatever The New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization,” Schmidt said. “It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day impugns the McCain campaign, attacks Senator McCain, attacks Governor [Sarah Palin]. It excuse Senator Obama. …

“Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective – that it is an organization that has made a decision to deemphasize its journalistic integrity and tradition, to advocate for the defeat of one candidate – in this case, John McCain – and to advocate for the election of the other candidate, Barack Obama.”

Schmidt said later that the Obama campaign has been “abetted” by a compliant media that gives more scrutiny to the Republican than to the Democrat.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his aides have gone public with a series of grievances against “The Gray Lady.”

On Monday, the paper published an article on page A18 tying Campaign Manager Rick Davis to lobbying group set up by troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

When CNN’s Dana Bash asked about the article, Schmidt unloaded.

“Let me first say: We are First Amendment absolutists on this campaign,” he began. “The press, and anybody who wishes to cover this race from the blogosphere perspective or from a media perspective, … of course is constitutionally protected with regard to writing … whatever they want to write. But let’s be clear and be honest with each other about something fundamental to this race.”

Then, naming The Times, he said: “There is no level of public vetting with Senator Obama’s record, his background, his past statements. There’s no level of outrage directed at his deceitful ads. This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be. But let’s not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is.”