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of smearing Sen. McCain would have been achieved without inflicting grave internal damage. The only reason to rush the story would be if the story had merit, or if the Times had been manipulated in order to benefit a group other than a liberal base with a moderate Republican candidate as their target. However, given the right stream of misinformation and the proper pressure, a newspaper might surely feel that they are about to lose out on the biggest story of the campaign season

The Green-Ey'd Monster and Plausibility:

Earlier this year, Sen. McCain welcomed Karl Rove as an advisor and generously let go of the animus that consumed him and his campaign in 2000. Some may see Mr. Rove's presence in a cadre including Sen. Lieberman as nothing more than Sen. McCain's willingness to embrace divergent points of view. The problem with this, of course, is that Mr. Rove is the poster child of the far, far, far, far right. In joining Sen. McCain's camp, Karl Rove's own credibility as President Bush's conservative architect comes, or rather, should come, under great scrutiny. The fact that the Times allegations surface just weeks after Mr. Rove's alignment is suspect, given the underhanded way in which he has forced political theatre during his recent reign of scurrilous terror.

In dissecting these allegations, regardless of whether they are with or without merit, it is critical to consider the ultimate beneficiaries of the ensuing fallout. Certainly, most rational individuals believe that at present, the Times have suffered, not gained, from the story. Assuredly, if the allegations prove to be true, the Times have conducted themselves with the journalistic integrity one would expect of a newspaper whose subsequent investigation undermines their initial endorsement of a presidential candidate. Until then, however, it both prudent and necessary to consider the extent to which Sen. McCain's lackluster conservative record has been attacked by the far right and that fact that he is simply not their candidate of choice. The only beneficiary, then, of a McCain scandal at this stage of the primaries, is not the liberal media, herein represented by the Times, who would clearly prefer a moderate opponent in the general election than a true conservative, but the disenchanted right wing of the Republican Party who stand the most to gain from Sen. McCain's fall from grace.

Simply put: right wing conservatives not only don't have the candidate they want in Sen. McCain; but they don't

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