Surprise: Democrats Find Yet Another NYT Story to Their Liking, Shop It Around
Surprise: Congressional Democrats pounce on yet another Times story to their liking and are swapping it among themselves "as exhibit A against Republicans."
From Michael O'Brien's Wednesday evening report from the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill:
Democrats are seizing on a report that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had long plotted to slow or halt Democratic priorities in Congress, planning to use it as a key piece of evidence in their case against GOP "obstructionism."
In a memo to a broad group of Democratic lawmakers, communications staff and party strategists obtained by The Hill, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Communications Director Brad Woodhouse advised using a New York Times report Wednesday on the Senate GOP leader as exhibit A against Republicans.
The Times report said that McConnell had hatched a strategy before President Barack Obama had even taken office to build GOP unity and orchestrate Republican opposition to a number of bills favored by Democrats.
....
Woodhouse told party officials that the Times story "plays to our benefit at a crucial time."
It's no surprise the Democrats like the story, which blamed voter cynicism regarding Obama-care on Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, not unseemly Democratic tactics. Times Watch had its own take on the slanted story yesterday.
The Times has been a reliable purveyor of Democrat-friendly news. In the last few months, national Democrats and the Obama administration have latched on to separate defenses of the stimulus plan by chief economics writer David Leonhardt and Washington reporter Jackie Calmes.
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