All the News That Fits and Then Some

Well, the New York Times has done the impossible. No, Sulzberger & Co haven’t increased profits or reversed years of sagging sales. But they have managed to get conservatives to rally around John McCain:

Few commentators on the right—including some who regularly denounce ethical lapses or weaknesses of the flesh among Democrats—paused to assess seriously whether the Times’s suggestions of conflict of interest were well-founded.

Instead, many swallowed past misgivings about McCain to rally to his defense, on the apparent theory that anyone under assault by the most powerful institution in the mainstream media could not be all bad.

“For conservatives, the New York Times is shorthand for everything they distrust,” said John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and former Republican operative.

Pretty impressive for a badly-sourced story which never should have run.