House Republicans Push To Get McCain Editorial In NY Times

By Patrick O'Connor

(The Politico)  A House Republican will circulate a letter on Wednesday authorizing a third-party group to take out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times featuring a rejected editorial by their presidential candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, according to people familiar with the decision.

The letter, drafted by California Rep. Kevin O. McCarthy with the blessing of his leadership, is an attempt to paint the venerable newspaper as a Democratically-aligned media company.

The move echoes previous liberal media bias flaps over an ad taken out in the paper by MoveOn.org criticizing Army Gen. David Petraeus on the eve of his first congressional testimony in 2007 and a 2004 controversy in which then-CBS News anchor Dan Rather aired a story about President Bush's National Guard service based on fabricated documents. Republicans are hoping to foster similar distrust among their base voters for the national media.

House GOP sources suggest a Republican leadership PAC may pay for the ad if no outside group steps forward to do so, although the cost would run into the tens of thousands of dollars.