Ed Morrissey, I think, is the first to coin the phrase “the Get McCain Desk” as it relates to the latest hit piece from the NY Times and alleged shady land deals in Arizona. Ed has a good take-down of the Times piece in the link above.
Much to the chagrin of the GMD, however, this land deal story didn’t take hold in the MSM, which I assume is why the editors of the Times decided they needed to write an editorial on the subject of the article today. Here’s the conclusion:
Many members of Congress who represent the West have supported such exchanges, and, compared with Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader from Nevada, Mr. McCain is something of a piker in this area. Mr. Reid is not the least bit embarrassed by bills that he sponsored that have given developers in growth-hungry Las Vegas access to vast acreage that was once off-limits to building.
But it is Mr. McCain who is running for president as Mr. Straight Talk. He ought to live up to the standard that he sets for himself. A good place to start would be to admit to the deals that he has made and propose reforms to a process that badly needs an overhaul.
Ed Morrissey pointed out back in 2006, Reid and his family personally profited from his land deal. Why did the Times decide that this major difference between the two wasn’t relevant for their readers today?
And do we really want to start talking about land deals? I eagerly await the same scrutiny of Obama’s Rezko land bonanza from the editors of the Times.