Robert Bennett said last night that the New York Times had “lowered its standards” by publishing a “hit piece” on John McCain.

Let’s not indulge the fiction that the Times is a model of journalistic probity. Remember this story from 1991? Front page treatment — byline none other than Maureen Dowd — for a story about Kitty Kelley’s book alleging an affair between Nancy Reagan and Frank Sinatra. Grey lady? Puhleeze.