The New York Times, America's "Newspaper of Record",
the "Old Grey Lady"... that paragon of journalistic
excellence and tradition... is leaning so far to the
left that her pinko panties are showing.
Ya' think the grand ol' dame will endorse Hillary
for Senator? Hmmmmm?
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NewsMax.com
newsmax.com
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Saturday May 6, 2000; 5:18 PM EDT
New York Times Goes Sleazy on Rudy
America's newspaper of record, The New York
Times, wouldn't touch Gennifer Flowers' story
when she first came forward to allege a
twelve-year affair with then-presidential
candidate Bill Clinton.
Seven years later, when Juanita Broaddrick
charged on national TV that Clinton had raped
her, the Times limited its coverage to a single
report, which explored the story mainly from the
standpoint of the media's ethical quandry in
reporting such a dicey charge.
But when it comes to New York Mayor Rudy
Giuliani, the Times' handwringers have gone
into hiding. It took the Old Grey Lady just a
day to jump on the tabloid bandwagon, picking up
on reports that Giuliani has been seen squiring
a 40-something busnesswoman around town.
And though neither Giuliani nor his ladyfriend,
Judith Nathan, have publicly acknowledged any
sexual aspect whatsoever to their friendship
(unlike a dozen Clinton girlfriends the paper
has ignored), the Times and its tabloid
brethren, The New York Post and The New York
Daily News, are ladeling out the innuendo by
the bucketful.
Columnist Gail Collins kicked off the Times'
sleazefest on Friday under the headline, "The
Rudy Chronicles":
"In the most discussed political development of
the week, we learned that the mayor's new very
good friend is a Manhattan resident who met him
at a parent-teacher gathering. ... She has been
seen in his company at events ranging from New
Year's Eve at Times Square to town hall meetings
in the outer boroughs. The voters may be willing
to leave Mr. Giuliani alone on this one, but if
his companion is willing to sit through town
halls, it sounds pretty serious."
True enough, a late poll shows that voters are
indeed willing to leave Giuliani alone "on this
one." But the Times isn't.
On Saturday, Times editors moved their Rudy sex
coverage from the opinion page to its hard news
"Metro Section."
Suddenly, the oh-so-respectable editors at 43rd
Street decided that John Tierney's, "When Rudy
Met Hillary; A Debate Date" fit well within the
bounds of the Times' "All the news that's fit
to print" motto.
Interestingly, Tierney's imaginary exchange
between the mayor and the first lady has Rudy
firmly on the defensive about the new sex
charges, but omits any reference whatsoever to
Mrs. Clinton's amply documented (except by the
Times) affair with the late Vincent Foster.
Two Clinton bodyguards have repeatedly given
reporters eyewitness accounts of Hillary and
Foster caught in sexually compromising
positions. And a new report says the couple may
have been caught in the act on videotape. (More
on that later.)
But though no such evidence has yet emerged
about Rudy and his female friend, that hasn't
slowed the New York Times down one bit.
Just in case Saturday readers missed the point,
Tierney's "Hillary-Rudy Debate Date" fantasy was
supplemented with another report offered as hard
news: "Private Life a Whirlpool, But Giuliani is
Tranquil."
As noted in this space Thursday, when Hillary
was questioned about her affair with Foster
earlier this year, media moralizers pounced on
the questioner, Buffalo talk radio host Tom
Bauerle, as if he'd just charged Mother Theresa
with running a brothel.
But Bauerle's critics weren't limited to his
fellow fourth estaters. Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney, a Democrat from Manhattan, could barely
contain her outrage. "Let's stop that kind of
interviewing," Maloney told The New York Post.
"I find it personally disgusting."
Maloney didn't stop there. As the Post reported
three days after Bauerle quizzed Hillary,
"Maloney - a close ally of Hillary Clinton -
said she was starting a weekly non-partisan
'media privacy watch' that would monitor press
coverage of various campaigns."
So where's Maloney's "non-partisan" outrage now
that the media have Rudy's private life in its
crosshairs? Who knows? There hasn't been a peep
out of Rep. Maloney, let alone her "media
privacy watch," since the tabloids began running
screaming headlines about Giuliani's sex life.
NewsMax.com believes that a politician's private
life is indeed relevant. If and when real
evidence emerges that Mayor Giuliani is cheating
on his wife - for instance, if Nathan were to
make the charge herself - then the voters are
entitled to know about it. Each can then make up
his or her mind as they see fit.
But that hasn't happened here. Instead, Giuliani
and Nathan have followed the course most
reporters have long recommended as the best way
to protect privacy: Don't confirm, don't deny -
and whatever you do, don't lie.
Had Giuliani been a Democrat, the press would
have likely honored those rules. Lord knows the
press gave Teddy Kennedy a pass about the oodles
of babes he's been seen with, even after one of
them drowned in his car.
Giuliani is no Ted Kennedy. Yet reporters are
acting like the mayor had issued a Gary
Hart-like dare to follow him around and see what
they can find. Even The New York Times can't
resist morphing into The Weekly World News in
order to dish the dirt.
The press' pretense to high standards has always
been just that, a pretense. And so it's time for
the Times and all the rest to report all the
news that's fit to print about both New York
candidates in the U.S. Senate race.
We suggest the New York media begin by covering
the latest sizzler in this week's Globe
Magazine: "Hillary in Kinky 3-Way Sex Video -
with Suicide Pal and another Gal!" Sounds like
there may be a whole new dimension to the
Foster-Hillary affair that even we hadn't known
about.
For corroboration, reporters might check with
Gennifer Flowers, who publicly claimed last year
that President Clinton personally told her that
Hillary swings both ways. In fact, Hillary
biographer Joyce Milton (The First Partner) even
named an Arkansas woman long-rumored to have
been the first lady's lesbian partner.
How about it, New York Times?
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