Nyt Rejects Mccain's Editorial; Should 'mirror' Obama

[stephanie]

Hey! they don't call it it the NYSLIMES for nothing.

Mon Jul 21 2008 12:00:25 ET

An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the NEW YORK TIMES -- less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's 'My Plan for Iraq' has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles.

'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece,' NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley explained in an email late Friday to McCain's staff. 'I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.'

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In McCain's submission to the TIMES, he writes of Obama: 'I am dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it... if we don't win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president.'

NYT's Shipley advised McCain to try again: 'I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft.'

[Shipley served in the Clinton Administration from 1995 until 1997 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speechwriter.]

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A top McCain source claims the paper simply does not agree with the senator's Iraq policy, and wants him to change it, not "re-work the draft."

McCain writes in the rejected essay: 'Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. 'I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,' he said on January 10, 2007. 'In fact, I think it will do the reverse.'

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Shipley, who is on vacation this week, explained his decision not to run the editorial.

'The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.'

Shipley continues: 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.'

Developing...

The DRUDGE REPORT presents the McCain editorial in its submitted form:

read it here.
http://drudgereport.com/flashnym.htm

[retiredman]

Obama articulated his plan for Iraq....the NYT asked that McCain do the same. Why would he have a problem with that?

[Yurt]

why are you claiming mccain did not articulate his iraq position? do you have proof that? from what i've seen he has.

[stephanie]

Obama articulated his plan for Iraq....the NYT asked that McCain do the same. Why would he have a problem with that?

You really are truly amazing at times..

Why the fuck should he have to change it to mirror the little boy wonders article..

you liberals are all for fairness, as long as it is all for your side.

I can't wait for the commie Nyslimes to go to the shithole in ground where it belongs.

[hjmick]

The Fairness Doctrine would be a one-way street, with the likes of the New York Times determining what was "fair."

Isn't it interesting that Shipley was a speechwriter in Clinton's White House. Not that he's partisan or that makes the issue an editorial conflict of interest or anything.



On another note...

Not too long ago, Obama's website had his opposition to the surge clearly spelled out in the "Problems" section, it said the surge would not work and might even make things worse. Now this entire section has vanished, why?

[avatar4321]

Obama articulated his plan for Iraq....the NYT asked that McCain do the same. Why would he have a problem with that?

What part of McCain's plan don't you understand? It seems quite basic to me.

[April15]

Here is the essay
In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation "hard" but not "hopeless." Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.

Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there," he said on January 10, 2007. "In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that "our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence." But he still denies that any political progress has resulted.

Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, "Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress." Even more heartening has been progress that's not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City?actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism.

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. In a New York Times op-ed and a speech this week, he offered his "plan for Iraq" in advance of his first "fact finding" trip to that country in more than three years. 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. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance.

To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future.

Senator Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military's readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Senator Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. The Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control, communications, and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops.

No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Senator Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five "surge" brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan, without fear of leaving a failed state behind. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.

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.

Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his "plan for Iraq." Perhaps that's because he doesn't want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be "very dangerous."

The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we've had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the "Mission Accomplished" banner prematurely.

I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war?only of ending it. But if we don't win the war, our enemies will. 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.

[Little-Acorn]

Hey! they don't call it it the NYSLIMES for nothing.

Mon Jul 21 2008 12:00:25 ET

An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the NEW YORK TIMES -- less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's 'My Plan for Iraq' has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles.

'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece,' NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley explained in an email late Friday to McCain's staff. 'I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.'


Actually I'm not convinced that the entire article, and the NYT's refusal, isn't an entire gross joke of its own.

Here we have a writer, an important one who is running for president and trying to express his views, trying to reply to one op-ed already written and published in the same editorial page by his rival. And a newspaper editorial board is directing him on what he can or can't write in that article, and how he must write it???

It's GOT to be a joke.

[stephanie]

Actually I'm not convinced that the entire article, and the NYT's refusal, isn't an entire gross joke of its own.

Here we have a writer, an important one who is running for president and trying to express his views, trying to reply to one op-ed already written and published in the same editorial page by his rival. And a newspaper editorial board is directing him on what he can or can't write in that article, and how he must write it???

It's GOT to be a joke.

Oh, it's no joke..
the slimes and the lamestream media have stopped pretending they aren't biased...You hardly hear a thing about John McCain in the news or print..


Our MEDIA HAS BECOME OUR ENEMY.

[April15]

Oh, it's no joke..
the slimes and the lamestream media have stopped pretending they aren't biased...You hardly hear a thing about John McCain in the news or print..


Our MEDIA HAS BECOME OUR ENEMY.It was said that while Obama was overseas there would be little coverage of McCain because all the news anchors were with Obama to capture his mistakes.

[stephanie]

It was said that while Obama was overseas there would be little coverage of McCain because all the news anchors were with Obama to capture his mistakes.

Yeah right...don't make me laugh so hard, (trying to capture his mistakes).....:cow:

Our media has become an enemy of all Republicans and conservatives..They should no longer be relied upon..We need to get our news elsewhere..

[April15]

Yeah right...don't make me laugh so hard, (trying to capture his mistakes).....:cow:

Our media has become an enemy of all Republicans and conservatives..They should no longer be relied upon..We need to get our news elsewhere..Telemundo and DWT are from outside of America. Also the BBC has news on satelite. I have seen Austrailian news on but don't remember which mode of communication it was on.

[Yurt]

Telemundo and DWT are from outside of America. Also the BBC has news on satelite. I have seen Austrailian news on but don't remember which mode of communication it was on.

they sent the top news anchors "just" to catch a mistake :laugh2:

[BoogyMan]

Obama articulated his plan for Iraq....the NYT asked that McCain do the same. Why would he have a problem with that?

Hey MFM, sorry, but the Obambies at the NYT refused McCain an opportunity to rebut the assertions of The Obamamessiah. Remember this is the OpEd page, not a news story and as such McCain was silenced for having a viewpoint that the Obamateurs at the NYT would simply not let stand.

[Hobbit]

Telemundo and DWT are from outside of America. Also the BBC has news on satelite. I have seen Austrailian news on but don't remember which mode of communication it was on.

They are also broadcast from countries whose interests clash directly with ours. And you know what? They support Democrats, too...

[stephanie]

They are also broadcast from countries whose interests clash directly with ours. And you know what? They support Democrats, too...


No kidding.....the BBC is a joke..

[PostmodernProphet]

McCain goes to Iraq and the media barely mentions it.....Obama goes to Iraq and the major networks turn it into the event of the century......Obama writes an editorial about Iraq and the NYT publishes it.....McCain writes an editorial about Iraq and the NYT won't print it.......

I wonder if the average American gets it.......

[avatar4321]

McCain goes to Iraq and the media barely mentions it.....Obama goes to Iraq and the major networks turn it into the event of the century......Obama writes an editorial about Iraq and the NYT publishes it.....McCain writes an editorial about Iraq and the NYT won't print it.......

I wonder if the average American gets it.......

oh i think they are. Which is why i think all of this dishonest coverage is going to end up backfiring.

[Abbey Marie]

Another shining moment for Pravda West.

[red states rule]

Another shining moment for Pravda West.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2693028863_08694e4f9d_m.jpg