Andy Sternberg

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:45:50 -0800

Great roundup. It's been such a fun and thrilling campaign season that it's just annoying to see the NYT stoop to such levels. First of all, breaking news using only unnamed sources is that last thing I expect to see from the NYT in the aftermath of the Judith Miller/WMD bullsh*t which, they still need to rebuild credibility as a result of, in my opinion. Second, this is the kind of crap that enabled George Bush to steal the last election -- I'm talking Swift Boat Vets and their uncorroborated nonsense being blown out of proportion by the media just in time to swing the election Bush's way. Third, who cares? I see more of a "man bites dog" here if you look at the fact that a then 32-year-old attractive lobbyist was getting it on with a presidential candidate twice her age. Remember, it was a far nastier smear campaign by Karl Rove that led to Bush's defeat of McCain in the 2000 primary. Do you care what the NYT's anonymous sources say about McCain having a crush on a lobbyist? I don't. Hey, I heard that Hillary Clinton used to fantasize about her husband and his extracurriculars with the likes of Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky. Seriously, print that. Love, anonymous. Great news for Obama today -- all the attention on this will have the pundits totally distracted from the original plan -- which was probably to balance out the overwhelmingly Obama focused coverage (minutes-wise) on Tuesday by pointing out that he's bound to take a hit by being out-debated at tonight's Austin debate.

LAist: LAist Political Notebook: McCain Flirts, Obama Soars

Andy Sternberg