McCain Campaign Guru: N.Y. Times Isn’t ‘a Journalistic Organization’

Steve Schmidt is widely credited with re-energizing the McCain campaign with his tough and often deceptive style, but his latest is a bit much, even for a Karl Rove protégé. During a conference call with reporters, Schmidt accused The New York Times of being “a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day impugns the McCain campaign.”

Perhaps it’s not that Schmidt has trotted out that Republican cliché of attacking the paper of record — his tirade will surely earn McCain points on the talk radio circuit. What makes his otherwise predictable comments worth noting is that they fit a cynical pattern designed to intimidate the media — with which Schmidt was speaking — from doing their job.

His statements came after a question from CNN’s Dana Bash, who asked about a Times article that exposed the hypocrisy of one of McCain’s ads. We’ve seen this before: When held accountable, Team McCain often responds by attacking the media.

Politico:

His lengthy broadside, prompted by an article Monday documenting ties between the campaign and lobbying for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was the latest in a series of grievances with the Gray Lady that that aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have aired publicly.

“Whatever The New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization,” Schmidt said. “It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day impugns the McCain campaign, attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. [Sarah] Palin. It excuse Sen. Obama. …

“Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective — that it is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition, to advocate for the defeat of one candidate — in this case, John McCain — and to advocate for the election of the other candidate, Barack Obama.”

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McCain campaign conference call: