WASHINGTON — It is a tradition at many kitchen tables to yell at the newspaper. At John McCain’s kitchen table, it is becoming a tradition to yell at one paper in particular: The New York Times.
The latest dustup between the Republican presidential candidate and the “All the News That’s Fit to Print” big-name newspaper centered on the editorial board’s back-to-back criticisms of McCain, one dispatch accusing him of taking the low road and another saying that he was playing politics with race.
The second editorial, appearing on the Times website, said McCain’s ads conjured up loaded racial images and raised the specter of O.J. Simpson.
“The presumptive Republican nominee has embarked on a bare-knuckled barrage of negative advertising aimed at belittling Mr. Obama,” the editorial board wrote.
The response from the McCain campaign was equally cutting.
“If the shareholders of The New York Times ever wonder why the paper’s ad revenue is plummeting and its share price tanking, they need look no further than the hysterical reaction of the paper’s editors to any slight, real or imagined, against their preferred candidate,” said McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb.
Goldfarb compared the editors to a blogger “sitting at home in his mother’s basement and ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons & Dragons.”
Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis declined to comment Friday.
The relationship between McCain — a frequent reader of the newspaper — and the Times has been rocky. Yet such a grudge could pay political dividends for the presidential candidate, as criticizing the liberal media often improves a candidate’s standing with Republican Party conservatives. That’s crucial for McCain, who has never been their favorite.
In January, the Times endorsed McCain’s candidacy for the Republican nomination, saying, “Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe.”
Since then, it’s been McCain vs. The New York Times. Last month, Republicans complained that the paper rejected an Op-Ed piece by McCain about the Iraq war after one by Barack Obama was printed and received widespread attention. The paper said it had only tried to get McCain to rewrite the piece to be more specific about his plan.
Beyond any personal pique there may be, there is a strategy to attacking the Times because it is a bogeyman of conservatives who still may not be entirely sold on the Arizona senator.
Senior advisers are fully aware that assailing the Times could help endear McCain to his talk radio skeptics and their followers. So, they go after the newspaper often — and send the message: McCain stands with you.
