McCain vs. The New York Times: Round Two
South Portland, MAINE–
After a very unflattering article in the New York Times in February alleging an inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist (which the camp completely denied), the McCain camp is in another argument with the Gray Lady. The presumptive Republican nominee wrote a response to Barack Obama’s Op-Ed on his Iraq policy published on July 14th. But, the McCain camp says the New York Times will not print the response as is. According to e-mails provided by the McCain campaign between them and the New York Times’ op-ed editor, David Shipley, the editor says he is “eager to publish the Senator on the Op-Ed page,” but that he is not “able to accept this piece as currently written” and he would be “pleased” to “look at another draft.”
In the unpublished Op-Ed, McCain goes after his rival for not supporting the troop surge in Iraq, “The success of the surge has not changed Senator Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale,” McCain then goes after Obama’s ‘Plan for Iraq,’ which the New York Times published, “ It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all of our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been.”
McCain also hits Obama on his plan to withdraw the majority of troops from Iraq within 16-months, “But I have also said that any draw-downs must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Senator Obama.”
The Arizona Republican says Obama never speaks about winning the war, but only of ending it and says that he will continue to improve conditions in Iraq and also Afghanistan, “ A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president. Instead I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan with the goal of creating stable, secure, self-sustaining democratic allies.”
In the e-mail exchange, Shipley said that Obama’s Op-Ed “offered new information” because it previewed the presumptive Democratic nominee’s speech on Iraq. He added that “it would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece,” explaining that the Op-Ed would articulate how McCain “defines victory in Iraq” with a plan “for achieving victory– with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the Senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan.”
The McCain campaign sees this as media bias and the New York Times favoring the Democratic candidate, “John McCain believes that victory in Iraq must be based on conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables,” Spokesperson Tucker Bounds said in an e-mailed statement, “Unlike Barack Obama, that position will not change based on politics or the demands of the New York Times.”
McCain is against setting timetables for troop withdrawals, but did say today that if conditions continue to improve in Iraq he sees troops coming home within the next two years.
McCain Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker was on Fox News and blasted the newspaper, “ We have elections in this country, not coronations and it is unfortunate that the New York Times wouldn’t let their readers hear from John McCain and make their own judgment.”
The New York Times responded pointing out that they have published at least seven previous McCain Op-Eds and that they endorsed him in the primaries, “ It is standard procedure on our Op-Ed page, and that of other newspapers, to go back and forth with an author on his or her submission. We look forward to publishing Senator McCain’s views in our paper just as we have in the past,” spokesperson Catherine Mathis said in an e-mailed statement, “We have published at least seven Op-Ed pieces by Senator McCain since 1996. The New York Times endorsed Senator McCain as the Republican candidate in the presidential primaries. We take his views very seriously.”
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Tags: barack obama, Catherine Mathis, john mccain, New York Times
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We can thank Fox News for allowing America to view John McCain’s op-ed that the NYT refused to publish. Keep the facts out there, today, tomorrow, and 24/7!! I appreciate you!
New York Times, pELOSI, rEID, and the slime goes on…
Clearly, NY Times and all of the media is biased and pushing no one but Barack Obama. We are sick and tired to hearing nothing but Obama!!!! We have two candidates running for Presidemt of the United States, NOT just one. If so, we would have a dictatorship, not a democracy where the people can elect the President.
It is time for all of the media to give some attention and time to Senator John McCain, the other candidate!
To: My Congressperson
July, 21, 2008
I would like to know from my representative why N. Pelosi is working to destroy this country?
I have children here and do not like the direction the democratic led Congress is taking the American people.
It would seem to me that pelosi, reid, and others are deliberately causing pain, to the American people
in order to enhance some lunatic plan to make “change” appear to be the only salvation.
We seem to have NO leadership in the Congress or Senate,
of course not one of you has any personal contact with the problems you create.
If members of Congress and the Senate would stop their grabbing for everything they can stuff in their
pockets, ( power, position, cash ) for a while, maybe some of you could do some actual work for the people who have no choice but to pay you.
Some suggestions:
Cut the federal gas tax in half - and make the needed alterations to ‘your’ budget to accommodate such.
If the American people can adapt why not the American government?
Encourage or require state governments to also cut in half their gas tax - and make the needed alterations to ’state’ budgets to accommodate such.
Why are there families going with out food, shelter, medical care to pay tax to fund local, state, and federal governments who waste money by the
minute without a thought about it? ( And we all know they do just that )
Immediately begin programs to encourage Wind, Water, and solar power production, beyond what they currently are.
Immediately coordinate with states to have them also accommodate alternative energy production,
including manufacture, sales, and especially implementation by villages, towns/cities, and individuals.
Expand exploration and retrieval of natural gas, maybe listen to what Boone Pickens has to say.
Make a deal with the major oil companies to give back one half of the land they now hold and judge to be non-productive,
in exchange for an equal amount of land or off shore space that may indicate to be more valuable in resource.
Maybe Congress and the Senate members could pack a lunch once a week?
Cut down or in half unneeded air travel by government, Cut down, Cut back, Half your usage.
Do it now - What are you waiting for?
dissatisfied by the complete failure to produce.
My name
My address
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Hmmmmmmmm the NYT requires McCain to state “troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the Senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan.” Don’t seem to see any of that in Obama’s article, funny, doesn’t seem to me to be equal coverage at all, just slanted in one direction, per usual!
McCain, like Gov. Guiliani, stands fast on his convictions…for this alone, he gets my vote…in my soul i feel Obama has a secret agenda of which no one is aware…he frightens me…i can hear him doing another flip-flop about the war when he returns home…i cannot believe that when each american steps into that booth and casts the ballot in secret, that he will not ‘pull the lever’ for Sen. McCain…i believe that common sense and good judgment will, at that point, take over…as for NYT, i pay about as much attention to it as i do CNN…None…
I just heard on the radio that Congress is leaving 8-1-08 for a one month vacation and
will not vote on the drilling issue before they leave. Come on people wake up they
will not help the American people only themselves. Vote Pelsoli, Reid and the rest out
this election and let them all realize that the American people will take just so much and
then they will act.
Other MEDEA like PBS, CNN etc…..
Newspaper & Magazine——Arizona Republic, NYT
University——–ASU (Arizona State Univ.)
All bias to Republicans!! I don’t believe them and never read or watch them.
ex.) PBS is run by ASU and ASU related to Democrat and only invited Obama to speak and brain
washed all the students. PBS is getting donations from us but bias toward Republicans and all the news casters are DEMO.
ex.) All proffessors are trained in ASU to not discuss anything but only global warming and they invited GORE to brainwash again and again.
ex) Our governor, Napolitano is a woman but LES so she loves to marry a lady and want to change AZ like Calif. (Obama is consider her as his running mate???) Obama is GAY!!
Where is a value? Where is a principle?
Where is our cor-value?
WE NEED TO CHANGE TO NORMAL ….VOTE FOR MCCAIN 08′
Other MEDEA like PBS, CNN etc…..
Newspaper & Magazine——Arizona Republic, NYT
University——–ASU (Arizona State Univ.)
All bias to Republicans!! I don’t believe them and never read or watch them.
ex.) PBS is run by ASU and ASU related to Democrat and only invited Obama to speak and brain
washed all the students. PBS is getting donations from us but bias toward Republicans and all the news casters are DEMO.
ex.) All proffessors are trained in ASU to not discuss anything but only global warming and they invited GORE to brainwash again and again.
ex) Our governor, Napolitano is a woman but LES so she loves to marry a lady and want to change AZ like Calif. (Obama is consider her as his running mate???) Obama is GAY!!!
Where is a value? Where is a principle?
Where is our cor-value?
WE NEED TO CHANGE TO NORMAL ….VOTE FOR MCCAIN 08′
Sounds like the NYT has given McCain an essay take-way to work on. Too much for a man on the campaign trail I should say.
I simply cannot believe how many people are taken in by Obama–he is so obviously out for himself.
How is it possible that anyone with half a brain can take the NYT seriously. A writer creating stories………..an editorial board that refused a sportswriters submission because it disagreed with the Editorial Policy at the time…………I fully expect Dan Rather to find his next job at the Times.
These Editors believe fully in the William Randolph Hearst legacy, that Newspapers shouldn’t inform, but should decide, and their true purpose is to fill the role of “Kingmaker”, and The Times, like most of the Socialist dominated Media adheres to the same frightening policies…………………….
If the Liberals want a fairness doctrine for Radio talk shows, the Conservatives should answer with one for all Media outlets, if Pelosi and Reid are successful in shoving this blatant assault on the First Amendment down our throats.
Is it any wonder that Times sales have been steadily dropping for years ?
Hoepfully the American people are wise to NYT and other main stream (liberal) news media and not have them shove Obama down our throats. We are intelligent and can make up our own minds as to who to vote for. The more they pressure this garbage the more I am convinced to vote for McCain and so will this great nation.
Ok Christy, so a dictatorship is where someone from the military rules, often singlehandedly, over a nation (You really think that word applies at all?). I think maybe people should get a little perspective here. McCain is a great candidate, on his own. No need to defamate Obama or Pelosi or Reid to make McCain look any better. I agree with the New York Times stance on this issue, and I think that McCain SHOULD give clear guidelines of what success means, though of course time tables are his discression. I also believe he will do that very thing within weeks, so it is almost a moot point.
No matter how much I read on this site, i’m always amazed at the slander of character that goes on. This article did not slander anyone in any way, but there is hardly a response that does not try to slander. The real problem with this country is our inability to focus on the positive and move together forward. It isn’t “facing reality” to focus so much on the negatives, it is cynicism.
Having said that, the reality is the the NYT is liberal almost by definition, but they definitely have had a soft spot for McCain in the past (endorsing him in the 2000 and 2008 primaries).
for all you McCain Supporters who think that staying in Iraq is the answer. I got extra uniforms that I don’t use. You grab a weapon and you stand on the front lines. All you hypocrites who says McCain supports the troops. Yet he denied the GI Bill four times before the current one went through. As some one who has been deployed th Iraq three times and Afghanistan twice, enough is enough. In the eyes of a lot of service members we have lost this war and will continue to lose. Every time we lose a service member In Iraq when the so called was is over we lose another battle, one less service members to guard our boarders to fight in places like Afghanistan. Come November the people who make it possible for you to sleep at night will be sending a loud and clear message to Senator McCain………… That message will be……. NO WE DO NOT RESPECT YOUR DECISION TO KEEP US HERE NOR WILL WE WILLINGLY PUT YOU IN OFFICE TO PUT MORE OF OUR BROTHERS AN SISTERS IN ARMS IN HARMS WAY FOR A COUNTRY THAT SHOULD BE DEFENDING ITSELF.
all you posers make me sick, when you put on that uniform and you go to Iraq or Afghanistan then you can talk, we need to win the war in Afghanistan, and Go after the real reason the war in Iraq started Osama “is still hidding” Bin Ladden
Could it be that the New York Times is afraid to publish McCain’s Op Ed this time because it actually challenges Obama’s plans with sound principles and might make some people actually THINK?? - V. Sellers Dallas, TX
fox never post my stuff
explaining that the Op-Ed would articulate how McCain “defines victory in Iraq” with a plan “for achieving victory– with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the Senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan.” They expect the next president to have a plan??? What??? Why??? We’ve been without one for eight years now. If we actually have a plan what will we use as an excuse to raise the price of oil? How would we divert all of those billions of dollars of pork to millitary contractors? WHAT ABOUT HALLIBURTON? HOW WILL THEY SURVIVE? THE NYT IS A BUNCH OF LUNATICS EXPECTING ACTUAL NEWS INSTEAD OF ATTACK ADS!!!
Does this “really” matter in the grand scheme? Does anyone other than the left still read the NY Times? They have already made up their minds to vote for the worst choice anyway “regardless” of how much more intelligent McCain’s position is. The buzz from the left is as if they are voting for prom king and not the next president of the United States of America.
R. Rodriguez
Euless, TX
The Fourth Estate is starting to resemble the Third Reich. Like Joseph Goebbels, American main stream media has replaced objectivity, integrity, and free choice with one sided reporting, that reflects their bias for Barack Obama. The American Press used to be the last bastion of truth. When special interests got out of hand, the press came to the rescue and exposed them to the public. Now, the press is the special interest with their own agenda.
I’d like to say “THANK YOU” to the NYT for rejecting Senator McCain’s article. Because of your rejection and the additional press it has received, more people will read it.
I’d also like to thank you for a double whammy- highlighting the fact that the media is biased and pushing Obama on the nation.
You “done good” NYT, but I still won’t read your paper anytime soon.
Comment to Laura Posit:
I’m with you Laura, Obama, is still a blackman, which we all know can not be trusted, and is innately evil. It’s difficult to believe that any of us would actually vote for him for those reasons alone. I rather see the U.S. get worse under McCain leadership, than to see a blackman in office. Who cares about the foreclosures, lost jobs, indefinited wars, and maybe McCain isn’t the sharpest knife in the draw, he’s better than a blackman, because he one of us.
The fact is that john McCain cannot and will not define what success is. We can’t leave because we haven’t succeeded and when e succeed we can leave to preserve our victory.
The fact is that Obama’s plan is now being endorsed by the Iraqi DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED SOVEREIGN government. Bush said that if they want us to leave we would leave, McCain said that if they want us to leave we would have to leave. They say they want us to leave and all of a sudden Bush and McCain have changed there mind.
The Fact is that Obama NEVER said he wouldn’t listen to commander on the the ground. He said that the strategic goal is changing from staying to ending the war.
The New York Times has an obligation to print factual news just like foxnews does. Printing attack columns written by candidates is not a obligation. McCain should define success in definite terms and how he plans on getting us there.
People are talking about the MSM bias. Just before clicking this article, I counted on Foxnews.com’s Politcal site and there are more articles about Obama than there are McCain. There’s one about Lautenburg and one about Ron Paul.
So it’s not just the so called MSM, it is your own Fox’s site as well. But I don’t blame Fox or any other news media. They are all about RATINGS and nothing else. Ratings = $$ and all the news media is out to make money. Senator Obama is “interesting” right now (who knows that could change), whether you like him or not, people tend to at least click on the page (even on this site).
Now even as a Democrat who is NOT supporting McCain, his piece should still have been published. I’m not sure why he would want it published anyway seeing people don’t read the Times anymore:-)
I never have. LOL
Louie, Louie, I like what you said, except for the Democratic congress part. Remember, that’s only been for 2 years. The Republican Congress before that didn’t do much to help our national debt either. In fact, the defecit went UP to a record under the Republican Congress and President. But you’re right, if they stopped wasting our money, we’d be better.
I just deleted http://www.nytimes.com from my ‘favorites’ list. It can RIP along with http://www.msnbc.msn.com.
As an Independent I try to read articles from different sources but it’s getting harder all the time. Everything is either far right or far left.
One of these days, Fox will be shown to be the most fair and balanced of all the media. If the neocons and neolibs complain, then it tells me they are more middle of the road than anyone else.
MC CAIN IN 2008. We all know that Obama mother is WHITE so what makes Obama think that he is BLACK. I am sure if the media goes back and reviews any records on Obama I am sure they will find that he ones said he was WHITE. So to all the Black out there are you really getting a BLACK person in the White House. I don’t think so and I know this must be hard to except BUT IT IS A FACT Obama is NOT REALLY BLACK. So I guess you loss again. LOL. Mc Cain in 2008
Obama wants the troops to come home in the next 16 months….
Iraq Pres has stated that he wants the troops to leave his country…..
McCain stated that “we have succeeded. Not that we ARE succeeding, but that we HAVE succeeded”…..
So why are we still there?
If it wasn’t for Bush, McCain, and a bunch of other old farts, we wouldn’t have been there to begin with….and we wouldn’t have 4000+ dead kids coming home in coffins…..not that Bush lets us see any of them…..wonder if he really belives we don’t know about them, just cause we don’t see them
The daily McCain snapu, keep em coming……
time for my nap, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Most Repubs. believe that if we leave Irag anytime soon the war will be lost?
First of all what war? secondly, what is victory?
Also, McCain has stated that he will never surrender - if he did surrender, just who would he
surrender to?
Can’t all of you understand the fact that if we weren’t in Iraq all the money that has been
spent over there would have already done so very much for our nation!
Either you don’t have much common sense or you choose not to believe.
I’m not saying that Obama will be perfect when he gets in office, but I feel that he will make positive changes to america(regardless of color),and also to the world. that will be an embarrassing thing to see positive change throughout the world presided by a black man that some of the european-americans failed to do. There are a few caucasian people in power that are losing their grip and they are angry and afraid. maybe the CRIPS and BLOODS streetgangs will put their weapons down and become influenced by this historic moment of barack obama. I’m sure that some conservatives would not like that outcome. All of that said, even if Obama don’t win this election, McCain will probably make a great president as well, but I feel that the almighty GOD will give this country one more chance to promote peace in the U.S.,and around the world. What will you do McCain??…..what will you do???
Reserve Marine and White Independant are the same person
Editors of the NYT are traitors to the USA and are owned by the same terrorist organizations who own Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and who are financing Obama’s purchase of the presidency. They are all Marxist/Socialist and are hell-bent on the destruction of this nation.
to Reserved Marine, Stop telling people you are a Marine. You were never in the Marine Corps I was in. You have to have an IQ to be a real Marine.