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The New York Times story involving John McCain and a female lobbyist could not have come at a bad time for McCain. McCain is currently wrapping up his bid for the Republican nomination for president, and all he needs now is a major screw up to bring him down. At first, this story seem like it would be the major screw up for McCain, but as time has passed by, it seems like it has backfired against the New York Times, and it looks like conservatives are backing McCain.

The New York Times was one of many newspapers that endorsed John McCain. This was fairly odd, seeing that the newspaper is highly liberal, but it made for a great story for McCain's rivals. McCain's rivals called that McCain was too liberal to be a conservative, and an endorsement by such a newspaper must mean he is no good for the nomination.

But the endorsement did not seem to hurt McCain, as now he is the lead runner by far in the Republican nomination race, and is seen by many as the man that will lead the Republican party to victory in November. Everyone is not behind McCain at this time though, many hard core Republicans still do not like McCain, and have not accepted him as the nominee. There has been strong criticism especially from conservative radio host like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

With these conservative radio host, they believe in telling truthful news, and nothing just to smear another person. They also do not like liberal papers such as the New York Times for their positions on many topics, and the actions they have took in the past. With this latest form of yellow journalism, John McCain was the topic. It was said that John McCain and a female lobbyist were very close 8 years ago, and there was possibly a romance involved. Both parties have denied the accusations, and have been backed up by the conservative community.

I believe that this smear of a news report as helped for the unification of John McCain in the Republican party. Many of the conservative radio talk show host have defended McCain in this attack, and they usually express their dislike of him. I believe that many know the tactics of the New York Times, and know that they are a very liberal newspaper. I think that the people who read the article believe that McCain would never do such a thing, and that this story is just trying to smear his character.

With that, I believe that this report was a smear just to bring down John McCain, but I believe that is has helped many people get behind John McCain to help in his defense, and in return help unify the Republican party. No story about a conservative in the New York Times will probably ever be seriously thought upon by conservatives who actually read the paper. I just think that the New York Times tried, and failed at ruining the top Republican's chance at defeating their beloved Democratic candidate in November.

Learn more about this author, Joseph Alexander.
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