A lot has been written dissecting, criticizing and debunking the New York Times' clumsy heavy-handed innuendo based smear job on John McCain. I don't think I need to go into that any further.

A lot has also been written about why they ran the story in the first place. I think a lot of that writing misses something.

I don't think the editors of the Times are stupid people. Shameless partisan hacks, maybe; but not stupid. They had to know that this story wouldn't stand on its own. They had to know they were going to take a bigger hit than McCain for running it. But they did it anyway.

We're a long way from the GOP convention, though it is clear that McCain will be the Republican nominee for President. This story cannot change that fact. The general election is a long way off - too far off for this to have any real impact. So why run it now?

Fuzzy Memories

The answer is that eight or nine months from now, in the heat of the the general election campaign, no one (outside of a few bloggers and their readers) is going to remember the details of this story or it's refutation. There will only be the vague fuzzy memory of some tawdry scandal involving McCain and a lobbyist. Every time McCain and lobbyists are mentioned in the same sentence, that taint will be there. You can be sure that McCain and lobbyists will be mentioned often in the coming months.

Will it be enough on its own to change voters minds - probably not. It will add a bit of tarnish to the candidate who already has trouble with the conservatives he needs to win.
 

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 12:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment