While the Bush Administration was shooting down a secret satellite that had "fallen" out of orbit, the NY Times was playing skeet with Senator John McCain who, weeks earlier, had received their endorsement in the NY Republican Primary.
The Times' story has the presumptive Republican nominee in a "close" relationship with a telecommunications industry lobbyist in the late 90s. According to the Times, top aides "intervened to protect the candidate from himself."
Though of course it is important for men to consult with their doctors about whether they are healthy enough for sexual activity, the aides' concern here seemed more about how this relationship might impact the Senator's career, more so than how it might affect his personal health.
According to one top staffer who wanted to be nicknamed inappropriately and so instead will be referred to as "anonymous:" "We were like 'Dude!' and he was like 'My friends!' and we were like 'No seriously, Dude!' and he was like - well.. I can't say exactly what he was like... except that after awhile the tranquilizer darts did the trick."
Senator McCain was in Toledo, Ohio, working with actor Sylvester Stallone, a McCain supporter, on broadening the Senator's pallete of grimaces when the article broke. Top aides once again intervened to protect the candidate from himself.
The article in question had been on the brink of hitting the presses in December but once the Senator sent a couple of guys by Times Editor Bill Keller's place with a nice fruit cake and a kind note the whole thing "kind of disappeared."
The story's publication Wednesday night is the journalistic equivalent of "Psyche!"
Gloves off, cuffs rolled up, and one eyebrow raised unnervingly higher than the other - the Senator blasted the Times in a statement calling theirs "a hit and run smear campaign" and "gutter politics" and insisting that he has never "done favors for special interests or lobbyists."
A 9am news conference is planned on Thursday morning where the Senator plans to roll out even tougher language and retaliatory steps that may include sending troops in to occupy the NY Times offices in Manhattan for the next 100 years. Aides intimated that he was also planning on being flanked by menacing white guys at the news conference to drive home the point that he was no pansy.
The Senator's wife, Cindy McCain, was too busy feeling proud of her country and could not be reached for comment.
UPDATED: Senator McCain and his wife Cindy have just appeared before reporters in Toledo, Ohio and ended up taking a different strategy to express their point of view: heartfelt disappointment in the NY Times. While they didn't go so far as to ground the Times or restrict its tv privileges, it was clear that they weren't happy with its report card.
