Times Attack On McCain Stirs Conservatives

The New York Times may be driving doubting conservatives into Republican John McCain's presidential camp.

Longtime McCain antagonist Rush Limbaugh, reacting to The Times story that relies on vague sources and not much more, immediately accused the "drive-by media" of "trying to take [McCain] out."

"The story is not the story," Limbaugh wrote in an email to the Politico. "The media picked the GOP's candidate, the NYT endorsed him while they sat on this story, and is now, with utter predictability, trying to destroy him."

Laura Ingraham--like Limbaugh, an influential conservative radio host--also implied that the Times' motives were sinister. "You wait until it's pretty much beyond a doubt that he's going to be the Republican nominee, and then you let it drop," she said this morning. "Drop some acid in the pool, contaminate the whole pool. That's what The New York Times thinks."

David Brody of CBN.com, the website of the Christian broadcasting network, told his massive conservative audience that a Times "hit job" is a "badge of honor."

And Kathryn Jean Lopez at the National Review's Corner blog says she's received a flood of emails from angry conservatives. "I'm the typical conservative who has not been happy with the McCain ascendancy, but the NYTimes has accomplished what Tojo did with Pearl Harbor," wrote one. "They have awoken a sleeping giant. We have been reminded who the real enemy is and it is not Senator McCain. I'm ordering my bumper sticker today."

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