THE MARKUP
NYT: Links to DSCC Ads Are Just Fine [Nathan Goulding]
A great tip from NRO contributor Louis Wittig this morning, who pointed out an article on the NYT's homepage, "Democrats See Security as Key Issue for Fall." Below, there is a direct link to the latest DSCC advertisement bashing Bush and the GOP.
Wittig writes:
Aside from being another grain of sand on the Sahara-like acculmation of evidence for the Times's fanatic bias, I think it raises an interesting question of 'ethical linking'. (i.e. what are the responsibilities of a news organization when it links to outside sites that have to do with its material? A news site can link to another site - such as this DSCC ad - in a way that either lends it credibility [borrowed from the news site's own pretense of objectivity] or takes away from it - which is proper?)
Whatever the test is, this link doesn't seem to pass it.
Clicking through to the NYT article leads to three screenshots from the DSCC ad, and the "Multimedia" section below also goes directly to the video.
In one of the more ironic parts of the NYT article, author Carl Hulse writes:
Seeking to counter White House efforts to turn the reported terrorist plot in Britain to Republican advantage, Democrats are using the arrests of the suspects to try to show Americans how the war in Iraq has fueled Islamic radicalism and distracted Mr. Bush and the Republican Congress from shoring up security at home. [...]
Democrats say polls show that Republicans and Mr. Bush have lost stature on the subject on terrorism as Americans have become disillusioned with the war in Iraq. They also believe that more voters are able to separate the war from efforts to protect the nation against terror attacks.
If Democrats were able to separate the Iraq war from the War on Terror, they would have known that the "reported terrorist plot" in London was not a result of the United States setting foot in the Middle East.
And later on:
“Some say that America caused the current instability in the Middle East by pursuing a forward strategy of freedom, yet history shows otherwise,” Mr. Bush said, ticking off terror attacks that occurred in the United States, Africa and elsewhere long before he took office.
Democrats say that such comments may have had power in the past, but that Republicans are no longer getting the benefit of the doubt. They were heartened this past weekend when leaders of the Sept. 11 commission said the war in Iraq was draining resources that could be put to domestic defense.
Democrats are heartened because the Iraq war is draining resources that could have been put to domestic defense? The point here is, obviously, that Democrats are excited to be able to use this to their advantage. But shouldn't it be worrisome that Democrats are only interested in national security when they can exploit it for political gain?
08/15 09:53 AM
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