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 [1]:
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 [2].
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 [3] and Washington reporter Jackie Calmes [4].
You can follow Times Watch on Twitter [5].