Joe Conason Rips NYT's Article about Scaife Backing off Hillary!

[KoKo]

Right-Wingers Repent, But Not The Times

By: Joe Conason
Date: 2/26/2007

But so did The Times, which more than any other news organization bears responsibility for the phony Whitewater scandal and the runaway independent-counsel probe that led to President Clinton’s impeachment. And now, on its front page, in a single sentence, the paper of record effectively disowned hundreds and perhaps thousands of articles, editorials and columns that once framed the trivial, unprofitable and long-dead Whitewater investment as a matter of immediate public concern.

In The Times, their guilty involvement was treated as something established, not “supposed.” Eight years and tens of millions of dollars later, the independent counsel grudgingly conceded that its investigators and lawyers had found no criminal wrongdoing in Whitewater by the Clintons. That was the same conclusion reached years earlier in a truly nonpartisan investigation undertaken by the Resolution Trust Corporation (to which The Times gave scant attention).

With the assistance of The Times’ editors, not to mention their equally zealous counterparts at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the right-wing network financed by Mr. Scaife succeeded in crippling the Clinton White House for years and nearly bringing it down altogether.

-SNIP-

All this ancient history matters now because, like everyone else, America’s newspaper editors are prone to repeat the errors they forget. To read Newsmax.com, where former Clinton consultant Dick Morris holds forth incessantly on the grave peril posed by Hillary, is to understand that the right will attack her as vigorously as ever should she win the Democratic nomination next year. Already, Mr. Morris and assorted other characters from the old Clinton drama are preparing films and books to re-enact their vendetta, and Mr. Scaife and Mr. Ruddy can be relied upon to promote those efforts, as they have consistently done for the past several years. No doubt the “Swiftboaters” who so scurrilously and profitably smeared Senator John Kerry’s war record in 2004 will join the fun.

The question is whether America’s leading newspapers can overcome their aversion to being labeled liberal and expose smears from either side of the spectrum without amplifying them. With Senator Clinton leading the polls, an honest reassessment of mainstream journalism during the Clinton years is overdue.

more...

http://www.observer.com/printpage.asp?iid=14215&ic=Conason

[acmavm]

1. The NYT is not a friend to the Democratic Party. They'd do

this all over again if the chance came up. Oh, except they won't do it to a really criminal, corrupt, treasonous administration it seems.

[wisteria]

2. You have this exactly right! n/t

[gratuitous]

4. What do you mean "if" the chance came up?

Remember the dust-up over Edwards' hiring of campaign staff, and the ranting of William Donohue of the Catholic League as if this was something that mattered? The Times was right there to report every breathless detail of Donohue's blather. Until, lo and behold, the two bloggers quit, and their pelts were immediately tacked up on the wall above Donohue's head.

And what did the Times do when presented with this scurrilous non-story? Did they condemn Donohue? Did they stick up for Edwards' right to hire anyone he sees fit to hire? And were any other Democratic candidates inclined to stick up for the Edwards campaign? I'll save you some time: No, no, no, and no.

If Donohue thinks he now has the power of veto over every campaign hire by every Democratic candidate, who could blame him?

[oasis]

3. Conason co-authored "The Hunting of the President". He has considerable

knowledge on the history of Clinton's wrongful persecution.

[Tellurian]

5. Joe Conason and Gene Lyons co wrote, The Hunting of the President and they

were instrumental in the production of the movie, THOP.

A great strategy as a preemptive strike on the next wave of RW propaganda coming forth,
would be a re-release of THOP on dvd and cable. Doing so, may have an inoculating or
neutralizing effect on the upcoming Circus of RW events.

[oasis]

7. This time around, bloggers will be the gatekeeepers of the facts. (eom)

[AtomicKitten]

9. just about my favorite political book

I think many of the anti-Clintonites here at DU would be well served to read it.

[oasis]

10. They should read that one and David Brock's "Blinded By the Right".(eom)

[AtomicKitten]

11. another excellent book

I normally would not be that forgiving, but Brock really laid it out there. His mea culpa was most sincere ... and revealing.

[zbdent]

6. The New York Times could have destroyed Bush

just by pointing out months before the 2004 election that they were illegally wire-tapping US citizens, without a warrant ... but NYT sat on it's keyboard until well after the election ...

The media will damn well "do its job" come 1/20/2009 ... and be hounding a Democratic President, saying "Okay, we learned our lesson. For anybody who thinks that we are playing favorites, we would have done the same if (fill-in-the-blank Republican) was elected."

(The italicized portion signifies their lie ...)

[Skidmore]

8. Scaife is backing off because the RW want to ensure that she is the candidate so

they run their candidate against her. It's the only way they can galvanize their base now. Family values won't work any more and neither will the war. The prospect of Hillary will make Guiliani more palatable to the true believers.

[Tellurian]

12. The Repukes will be scraping Guiliani off the sidewalks of NY

When the Dems are through with him.

Whatsmore, they have NO base to galvanize.
Their base is fractured. Moderates are migrating at warp speed to the Dems.

Guiliani will never pass the purity "sniff" test as their nominee.