A lot bloggers have been making a fuss about the New York Times giving MoveOn.org a deeply discounted rate to run it's reprehensible General Betray Us advertisement. Rudy Giuliani has even demanded the an equal rate to run an ad with an opposing viewpoint.

The bottom line is, however abhorrent the ad, the Times can charge whoever they want, whatever they want, for advertising space in their pages. They could have given MoveOn.org the space for free. They could have done this without breaking any of the already too numerous regulations of political speech. They could have done this and then turned around and told Rudy that his ad would run at three times their standard rate - it they agreed to run it at all.

Rudy's demand of "equal time" is a cheap and dangerous political stunt. I hope the Times has the guts to tell him to take a hike.

As for the bloggers who are up in arms all I can say is get over it. The Times has an enterprise wide liberal bias. They are not much more than a DNC/MoveOn newsletter when it comes to politics. Are you shocked that they accepted the ad? Are you shocked that they did it at a discount?

They are what they are. They are what they have every right to be. This should not come as a surprise.

Here's a suggestion. If you don't like their politics - stop reading them. Don't read any publication they own. Stop giving them hits. Stop giving them links. Tell all your friends.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 02:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment