It is hard to tell who is using who, but to see the GOP Establishment become so useful to the New York Times’ ongoing jihad against conservatives is more than a little troubling. Or maybe it is worse; maybe the New York Times is becoming useful to the GOP Establishment. Or maybe it is a full-blown nightmare realized and the two of them have climbed into bed together…?
Whatever the case may be, it is nauseating to witness. If the Karl Roves of the GOP want to wage war against their own, that is all part of the game. But to use, or allow yourself to be used by the New York Times in order to do it, is beyond the pale.
If the Justice League of America is arguing over something, Batman isn’t supposed to run crying to Lex Luthor.
But running to the Republican Party’s Lex Luthor is pretty much what it looks like when we have two major New York Times stories in just a few months that are obviously intended to intimidate the conservative wing of the GOP to bend to the will of Rove and company.
Back in February, the Times enjoyed an insider tour of the mission Rove’s American Crossroads is on, to, as the New York Times puts it, “protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate.”
What’s fascinating about the story is that it makes no mention of the almost perfect failure rate Rove’s American Crossroads enjoyed during the 2012 election. Or a Tea Party fella by the name of Ted Cruz.
Other than the Times’ piece being intentionally angled to make the Establishment look “reasonable” and “not scary,” it furthers a false argument that makes it seem as though Rove has a better track record than the grassroots when it comes to backing winners. 2012 was an utter humiliation for Rove. He squandered hundreds of millions of dollars and drove the GOP into a ditch.
Remember when the GOP told us that only moderates like McCain and Romney could win? Remember how our base stayed home?
Good times.
At any rate, the New York Times and Rove appear to agree that the only GOP medicine for 2014 and beyond is More Of The Same.
Flash-forward to today, Tuesday, and the New York Times and The GOP Establishment have launched another broadside, this time against a GOP House that doesn’t appear to be all that interested in passing the Senate’s ObamaCare-ish immigration reform bill:
Karl Rove and more than one hundred Republican donors sent a letter to Republican members of Congress on Tuesday, urging them to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would include, among other provisions, granting “legal status” to illegal aliens who meet certain criteria.
The Times notes that “Carlos Gutierrez, former Commerce Secretary for President George W. Bush and a founder of the Republicans for Immigration Reform super PAC, organized the effort.”
America doesn’t read the New York Times, but Washington DC does. This immigration letter alone is threatening enough, but the fact that it got such big play in the Times politics section also makes it a story — and one that is meant to launch a thousand MSNBC/CNN segments about how racist Republicans could lose their donors. if they don’t legalize 11 million Democrats.
Listen, these are smart plays by Rove and the Establishment, but anyone on our side involved with the Times has obviously chosen to forget that this is the very same news outlet that spent eight years trying to annihilate George W. Bush, and that included a two-year push to ensure we lost the war in Iraq. Twenty-five million innocent Iraqis abandoned to death squads and terrorists is a small price to pay for making Bush a one-term president, right?
Whatever this relationship the Establishment has with the New York Times, it is an unprincipled form of self-debasement borne of twisted ambition.
Shame on all of them.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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