Graham Campaign Fires Back at NYT, WaPo for Attacking his Military Service

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) presidential campaign is firing back at The New York Times and Washington Post for disparaging Graham’s military record.

Following The Washington Post’s examination and characterization of Graham’s work in the Air Force reserves as “light,” The New York Times piled on Tuesday with an editorial further taking Graham to task for peddling “an embellished, and at times inaccurate, narrative of his service in the reserve.”

Graham campaign manager Christian Ferry slammed the Times for attacking Graham’s service.

“The New York Times has become so desperate to salvage a bad nuclear deal with Iran, the support of which is plummeting with the American people, that they have taken to degrading the military service of the deal’s chief critic, Senator Lindsey Graham,” Ferry said in a statement Tuesday.

“Their editorial today, which echoed a discredited report from The Washington Post, got basic facts incorrect and selectively ignored evidence contrary to their offensive point of view.  The paper’s political agenda has never been more clear,” he added.

Earlier Tuesday the Graham campaign circulated a fact check authored by investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson of the Post’s report in which she concluded that the paper mischaracterized Graham’s service.

“So, while the Post’s facts appear to be accurate, for what many would view as unfair characterization of the facts, the article receives One Little Devil [or questionable accuracy and/or context]. Admittedly, this is a matter of how you see it; readers can make up their own minds,” Attkisson wrote.

Ferry further took issue with the New York Times’ decision to ignore positive reviews of Graham’s performance, including statements from his commanders like Generals David Petraeus and John Allen.

“Let’s be clear, The Washington Post had an agenda when it wrote its biased article, one expertly exposed by investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson. The New York Times appears to be following the same playbook – degrading the honorable service of a 33 year Air Force career for the sake of its liberal, anti-military political agenda at home. What a shame that The New York Times has become the mouthpiece of liberal elites instead of living up to being the paper of record,” Ferry concluded.