Tuesday, July 22, 2008

New York Times Rejects McCain Iraq Essay

The New York Times, who many believe to be a liberal newspaper, has recently rejected an essay that Senator John McCain wrote defending his Iraq War policy. The piece, a lengthy critique of Obama's positions in Iraq, most notably his 16 month timetable, as well as an outlining of his own plans for the future of Iraq, was in response to an Op-Ed article from Barack Obama that was published in the newspaper last week. 


But before the right-wing media starts their inevitable criticism of the "biased, unfair" left-wing newspaper, let us first look at why the article was rejected. In a statement released today, The New York Times said that it is "standard procedure on our Op-Ed page, and that of other newspapers, to go back and forth with an author on his or her submission." So, before we jump to a falsified conclusion, it simply appears that Senator McCain's article was not rejected, merely handed back for another revision. This assumption is confirmed by the New York Times, who stated, "We look forward to publishing Senator McCain's views in our paper just as we have in the past."

My question is, at what point is the New York Times crossing the line of mere publishing and unjustly stepping into the realm of assisting these two candidates in taking public potshots at each other? Senator Obama's July 14th essay had taken shots at McCain for not further encouraging the Iraqi government to take control of their own country. Now, just a week later, McCain has attempted to retaliate with his own Op-Ed piece bluntly criticizing Obama, saying, "[He] seems to have learned nothing from recent history." I ask again. Is The New York Times encouraging this public squabble between candidates? Food for thought. But I digress.

Ultimately, only time will tell if The New York Times will publish Senator McCain's Op-Ed piece. In my opinion, it is only fair. I may not agree with the Senator on the issues, and I most certainly do not in most cases, but if the newspaper allows for Senator Obama to write a piece that is critical of Senator McCain's policies as well as his handling of key issues that are essential to victory in the November Presidential Elections, it is only right that Senator McCain has a chance to refute the points that Senator Obama presented.

I like to call that the Straight Talk Express. 

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, let's not be quick to bash the NYT's. Instead, let's look at the real reason why it was rejected, as explained by the editor:

"Let me suggest an approach," he wrote Friday. "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. It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece."

In any case, the article McCain wrote is still viewable, and he got even more press coverage for it. I'd say he did a good job of getting the word out anyway, even if his comments were not substantive.