The brilliant mind of New York Times editor David
Shipley:
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. To that end, the article would have
to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines
victory in Iraq. It would also have to lay out a clear plan for
achieving victory -- with troops levels, timetables and measures
for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to
describe the Senator's Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it
meshes with his Iraq plan.
In other words, Shipley says, McCain's rebuttal can't be published
simply because his opponent got a free campaign ad on the pages of
the
New York Times. He must submit something that "works
for" David Shipley -- who, quite naturally, establishes ground
rules that favor Obama.
This was one of the arguments against McCain-Feingold: The major
media will always be able to control the terms of its own
participation in political discourse; regulation of advertising by
"outside groups" only strengthens the media's monopolistic power.
McCain is thus hoisted by his own "reform" petard.
topics:
Iraq, NATO
