Why didn't rethugs blow the lid on this McCain story earlier?

[Hugabear]

One would think that Romney, Huckabee, and maybe a couple of other rethugs could have benefited from a McCain scandal earlier in the primary season. As it is, the timing of this sucks. Too late to matter for the rethugs, but too early to really impact the general election.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Sounds like perfect timing for McCain then

[rox63]

2. A bit of background here

Yeah, I know it's TNR, but it does sound about right:

~snip~

From the outset, the Times reporters encountered stiff resistance from the McCain camp. After working on the story for several weeks, Thompson learned that McCain had personally retained Bill Clinton's former attorney Bob Bennett to defend himself against the Times' questioning. At the same time, two McCain campaign advisers, Mark Salter and Charlie Black, vigorously pressed the Times reporters to drop the matter. And in early December, McCain himself called Keller to deny the allegations on the record.

In early December, according to sources with knowledge of the events, Thompson requested a meeting with Bennett to arrange access to the senator and to discuss why the Republican presidential candidate had sought out a criminal lawyer in the first place. Bennett agreed to meet, and on the afternoon of December 18, Labaton, Rutenberg, and Thompson arrived at his Washington office. During a one-hour meeting, according to sources, Bennett admonished the Times reporters to be fair to McCain, especially in light of the whisper campaign that had sundered his 2000 presidential bid in South Carolina. He told them that he would field any questions they had, and promised to provide answers to their queries. Of the reporters in the room, Bennett knew Labaton the best. In the 1990s, Labaton had covered the Whitewater investigation, and Bennett viewed him as a straight-shooting, accurate reporter who could be reasoned with. Rutenberg he knew less well, and Bennett was miffed that Rutenberg had been calling all over Washington asking probing questions about McCain and his dealings with Iseman. The rumors were bound to get out.

Two days after that meeting, on December 20, news of the Times' unpublished investigation burst into public view when Matt Drudge posted an anonymously sourced item on the Drudge Report. "MEDIA FIREWORKS: MCCAIN PLEADS WITH NY TIMES TO SPIKE STORY," the headline proclaimed; the story hinted around the core of the allegations and focused on Keller's decision to hold the piece. "Rutenberg had hoped to break the story before the Christmas holiday," the item said, quoting unnamed sources, "but editor Keller expressed serious reservations about journalism ethics and issuing a damaging story so close to an election."

Immediately, the media pounced on the budding scandal. "If John McCain has hired Bob Bennett as his lawyer," one commentator said on Fox News, "that's a big--you don't hire Bob Bennett to knock down a press story. You hire Bob Bennett because you have serious legal issues somehow." On MSNBC, Pat Buchanan speculated that the Times newsroom was the source of the leak. "They've been rebuffed and rebuffed on this story, and they say we've had it, and they go around then and Drudge pops it just like he popped the Monica Lewinsky story first."

~snip~

Read the whole article here: http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=8b7675e4-36de-43f5-afdd-2a2cd2b96a24

[demokatgurrl]

3. Perfect timing. The Dem contest is hotter news right now

the McCain story will blow over, but they managed to get it out and have him answer it before some brilliant Democratic or media "sleuth" digs too deep.

[tekisui]

4. Too early for the GE, to late for a contender. But, still before mac

has the number to secure. And before her is selected at Convention. We'll see how this plays out. As of right now, NYT is standing by it, mac is denying every bit of it. One of 'ems lying. I think there is more to come. McShame looked and sounded beaten in the presser.

[rox63]

7. The story first surfaced back in December

So it could very well have been leaked to the NYT by one of McCain's primary opponents. My bet is on Romney.

[tekisui]

9. That's another thing. If Romney knew it, why'd he drop out?

Or suspend? He would have been served well to stay in and bag some more delegates if he knew what was coming.

[rox63]

10. Maybe he thought the NYT would never actually publish the story

Romney is a slimy rat-bastard - There are no politics that are too low for him.

[scheming daemons]

5. This story will be a net positive for McCain.... since the NYT's evidence is all "innuendo"....

....and it will give him license to:

A) Disregard any OTHER NYT stories that are anti-McCain from here to November. The media will ignore them.

B) Open up similar attacks on Obama or Clinton and call it "tit for tat".

[Cleita]

6. Maybe it's also that the RNC had expected Mittens to be

the frontrunner and McCain was a surprise.

[JVS]

8. Maybe they figured that this would cause the wagons to circle and bring unity