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Are news reports re NYT McCain story missing the point?

First, the story is actually about the ways that McCain's personality has led him multiple times into poor judgments that were not dishonest but exposed him to claims of dishonesty. Second, the article at no time alleges that McCain either engaged in a physical relationship with a much younger female lobbyist or that he conducted any public business in order to enjoy favors or contributions from the lobbyist's clients. The article instead addresses the very unfortunate APPEARANCE of impropriety caused by the senator's "professional" and "friendly" interaction with the lobbyist.

Next, this story does not in any sense present any kind of below-the-belt smear against McCain. Rather it takes the senator at his word, that he is a man of ethical beliefs and behavior, and discusses not only the involvement with the lobbyist, but other events that might call into question the credibility of both McCain's statements and his reputation. The story does not lead to any conclusions about this

Update:

The remark about the "liberal media" is not very clear - does the response mean the reports about the NYT story, or about the NYT itself? If about media response to the NYT story, then the problem is that a LOT of the disccussion I heard was by ultra-right-wing radio commentators, and the answer is clearly uninformed. If the response is about the NYT story, then the answer does not reflect any knowledge of content of the article.

The New York Times has most clearly NOT engaged in a "sleazy" exercise of poor journalism. The story claims - and of course in this matter your willingness to believe or not the Times is crucial - that two sources independently approached the paper with what were basically the same background tales about the senator, that both sources were independently corroborated and at the same time unknowingly corroborated each other. Part of the ccontroversy is about naming these sources.

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Strangely reminiscent of McCain's "illegitimate black baby" story the Bush campaign threw out to the media in 2000, don't you think?

    I really wanted to hear more about Vicki Iceman, her clients and McCain's treatment of her clients. Instead (as usual) I was bombarded with media reports of alleged kinky behavior. Potential preferential treatment of lobbyist's clients not important, I guess?

    Either way, I suppose it's looking like this is just more fodder for the Obama fire! Woohoo!

    Edit: So, in your opinion, what was the point that was missed?

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    SOP for the liberal media. Nothing new here.

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