Fox News is preparing for what comes after the election. First came the news that Fox News was hiring Glenn Beck, replacing one of its election shows with yet more wingnuttia.

And now, they’ve hired someone whose greatest expertise is in laundering politically motivated leaks to give those leaks "respectability."

Fox News is expected to announce today the hiring of a new contributor, a veteran national security correspondent who has shared a Pulitzer Prize.

Her name is Judith Miller, and she is nothing if not controversial. Miller left the New York Times in 2005 after testifying in the trial of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby that he had leaked her information about a CIA operative. Miller’s conduct in the case, which led to her serving 85 days in jail for initially refusing to testify, drew rebukes from the Times executive editor and some of her colleagues.

In the run-up to the Iraq war, Miller reported stories on the search for Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be untrue, some of which were cited in a Times editor’s note acknowledging the flawed coverage. Miller, now with the conservative Manhattan Institute, wrote when she left the paper that she had "become a lightning rod for public fury over the intelligence failures that helped lead our country to war."

Miller will be an on-air analyst and will write for Fox’s Web site. "She has a very impressive résumé," says Senior Vice President John Moody. "We’ve all had stories that didn’t come out exactly as we had hoped. It’s certainly something she’s going to be associated with for all time, and there’s not much anyone can do about that, but we want to make use of the tremendous expertise she brings on a lot of other issues. . . . She has explained herself and she has nothing to apologize for."

No, I’m not surprised that Judy Judy Judy has finally ended up at the one place worthy of her, um, talents. But I would invite you to imagine why Fox wants Judy on board.

Sure, maybe she’ll manufacture stories about evil threats that a President Obama (if he is elected) is ignoring (Scooter Libby: "It is fall now. You will have stories to cover–Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program"). Maybe she’s just there to present the thoughts of totally discredited types like John Bolton or Paul Wolfowitz as if they still had credibility. I suspect, most of all, she’ll be doing something very similar to her UN Oil for Food coverage–extended series turning details everyone pretty much knew into a full-blown scandal designed to distract attention from a colossal failure.

But her presence at Fox does tell you something about the way that Fox plans to proceed during what is shaping up to be at least two years in opposition. Fox seems to be preparing for that–going into opposition–with more forethought than McCain has had running his campaign. 

John Conyers has not missed what we’ve been seeing: a replay of the US Attorney scandal. He talks about the attacks on ACORN, the improper use of prosecutorial resources to intimidate voters, the waste of investigative resources when the FBI is already failing to investigate mortgage-related fraud, and the seeming preferential use of federal investigative resources to target Democrats. But here’s my favorite bit:

Furthermore, it is deeply troubling that, just weeks after the Department’s own watchdogs documented the role that specious agitating on alleged vote fraud matters by New Mexico Republicans played in the firing of United States Attorneys in 2006, in this controversy we see the same figures cropping up again and apparently obtaining a new FBI investigation just in time for the 2008 election. Thus a lawyer named Pat Rogers–described in the local press as "an attorney who advises the state GOP" is apparently playing a key role in pressing these current claims. Mr. Rogers, however, appears repeatedly in the report on the U.S. Attorney firings prepared by the Department’s Offices of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility, which documented his actions making flawed claims of voter fraud and brining unwarranted pressure to bear on law enforcement officials, including Mr. Iglesias, in 2006.

As I glossed the other day, 

Republicans are already under criminal investigation for this stuff. Don’t let them get away with the same kind of criminal conduct again.

Of course, as Kagro X has pointed out, Mukasey can blow off Conyers (as he has Conyers’ request for more urgency on voter protection) precisely because we didn’t get the evidence from Miers and Turdblossom to make this case legally before we got back into election fever.

So here we are, with the subpoenas still unenforced in the case that was supposed to crack the "administration’s" engineering of bogus "voter fraud" allegations against Democrats immediately preceding critical elections wide open, and now witnessing… the "administration" engineering bogus "voter fraud" allegations against Democrats immediately preceding a critical election. 

Like Alberto Gonzales, Mukasey seems to have lost all shame about allowing the GOP to play these games. 

After I noted that Greene County’s Republican attorneys were chasing down voting information on those who recently registered and requested an absentee ballot in that county, klynn found evidence of a "Young Republican" in that county laying out a plan to encourage vote fraud (in case that post disappears, I took this screen shot at around 1:38PM). The post claims that,

I’ve called all my friends in Georgia and Alaska (states that are clearly leaning Republican) and had them register to vote (using the local YMCA’s address) and to apply for an absentee ballot so the ballot will be sent to their homes in GA and AK.

In other words, this self-described Republican claims he (or she) was encouraging friends to commit vote fraud. Now, this post appeared just over a week before Greene County’s Sheriff got Mike DeWine’s buddy Stephen Haller to start digging up records on those who had registered early. So maybe this is why the Sheriff started investigating early voters. Or maybe this was just a plant to excuse such an investigation.

Sara explained why Greene County might have been a target for this kind of attention. 

Two major Historic Black Colleges are located in Green County, Central State University, which is Ohio’s Black Land Grant Institution, and Wilberforce University and Seminary, which was founded by the AME — African Methodist Episcopal Church back about 1845 or so. A former congressman from NYC is the current President of Wilberforce.

I can well imagine that Xenia saw lots of youthful voters during the early voting window last week, that ended this Monday.

A few miles outside Xenia, but still in Greene Country is Cedarville College, an Evangelical (I think Baptist) school with whom the DeVines have a very close connection — I believe both the former Senator and his brother are graduates. Cedarville is much older, but has close links with Falwell’s Liberty University and Robertson’s college operations. Lots of Cedarville students go on to study law at Regent’s. Lots of old connections with Blackwell’s operations in Ohio. [my emphasis]

Now, frankly, I don’t know what to make of this. Maybe this Young Republican is just talking out of his arse. Maybe the Republicans in Greene County are systematically trying to challenge the students at Central State and Wilberforce.

But given all the over-heated cries from the McCain campaign alleging voter fraud, you’d think they might spend some time checking into their own "Young Republicans" openly advocating vote fraud.

Democrats and Republicans have settled the suit seeking to prevent Michigan Republicans from using foreclosure lists to challenge voters. The MDP statement on the settlement says:

An agreement announced today by Obama for America, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Macomb County Republican Party, the Macomb County Democratic Party, and plaintiffs Duane Maletski, Sharon Lopez, and Frances M. Zick protects the voting rights of foreclosure victims. The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote. This settlement has the force of law behind it and ensures that Republicans cannot disenfranchise families facing foreclosure. [my emphasis]

In their reply to the joint motions to dismiss from the Republicans, the Democrats reminded that 6th Circuit precedent grants discovery before a suit like this can be dismissed on the jurisdictional grounds the Republicans had cited in their motions.

Under controlling Sixth Circuit precedent, when jurisdictional challenges raise questions of fact that are intertwined with merits questions, the proper course is denial of the motion to dismiss, conduct of discovery in the ordinary course, and consideration of the issues at the appropriate time on summary judgment. And because none of the Defendants has answered an interrogatory or produced a document in response to the Court-ordered discovery on jurisdictional issues, controlling precedent bars the Court from granting their motions. The rule is simple: When a defendant introduces evidence of its own related to the merits, it cannot block the plaintiff from conducting full discovery and still prevail.

I’m guessing–though this is an outtamyarse guess–that the Republicans weighed their options, thought discovery was sufficiently likely (and sufficiently damaging) that they chose, instead, to settle. And in return, the Democrats get to affirm that, indeed, Republicans were planning on using foreclosure lists to challenge voters.

Here’s Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer on the settlement:

Today’s settlement protects the voting rights of all Michigan citizens and guarantees that Republicans cannot use foreclosure lists to deny or challenge anyone’s right to vote. It is no surprise the Republicans back pedaled when their illegal scheme was revealed, and their surrender today ensures that Republicans cannot take advantage of the economic crisis to deny anyone’s voting rights. The agreement is a win for Michigan families ready to vote for change, and we will continue to aggressively protect everyone’s right to vote. [my emphasis]

I like that word, used in conjunction with Republican schemes: "surrender." I’m hoping we’ll get to hear more of it in the near future.

Update: A couple of readers have rightly pointed out that, since we don’t know what the actual settlement (which is not public) says, my headline may be inaccurate. Here’s what the GOP version of events is–which states that no proof of the scheme existed:

FORECLOSURE LAWSUIT DROPPED…Democratic National Committee and Obama for America today opted to drop a frivolous lawsuit against the Michigan Republican Party rather than risk having to pay defendants legal fees.  The Democrats’ actions confirm that no proof ever existed that Republicans planned to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters.

I suspect both parties are playing semantics–but would note the GOP focus on proof, rather on the scheme itself, is significant, particularly given the legal issuse surrounding discovery. The Dems argued that just the threat of using foreclosure lists may suppress the vote among people who have been in foreclosure. Furthermore, every Republican who commented on this noted that the lists Republicans bring into polling places to challenge voters are just the voting rolls (that is, they wouldn’t bring foreclosure lists in any case, they’d bring QVFs with names pre-selected for challenge). 

A number of people have noted that Joe Deters–John McCain’s SW Ohio Co-Chair and Hamilton County Prosecutor–has subpoenaed the information for 40 percent of those who registered and voted at the same time during Ohio’s "golden week" that allowed people to do both at the same time.

Deters issued a subpoena on Friday for complete registration records for roughly 40 percent of the 671 voters who registered and cast a ballot between Sept. 30, when early voting began, and Oct. 6, the deadline for voter registration.

The subpoena, obtained by The Associated Press, is part of a grand jury investigation initiated by Deters in the county.

[snip]

It was unclear why the subpoena – which also calls upon the county’s election director and deputy director to testify before the grand jury – doesn’t ask for records of all voters from the weeklong window.

It’s worth noting, however, that this is not an isolated example of a Republican operative using his prosecutorial powers to collect information on people who voted during that week. 

It seems that the former partner of Mike DeWine (DeWine is co-Chair of the McCain team in OH) is asking for the voter registration cards of everyone in Greene County, OH, who voted during golden week:

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer and representatives of County Prosecutor Stephen Haller have contacted the local Board of Elections asking for the voter registration cards of everyone who voted during the six-day window, which ended Monday.

What a coinkydink, huh?

Of course, I have no hard evidence that these two prosecutors are playing the same game, leaking news of a criminal investigation into voting. But it’s worth noting that, in both cases, the prosecutors themselves claim to have received the allegations of vote fraud–not elections officials. Here’s Greene County:

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, a Republican, requested registration cards and address change forms Thursday for all 302 people who took advantage of the window. He told elections officials he had been flooded with telephone calls from people concerned about possible fraud.

And here’s Hamilton County:

“We’ve had widespread complaints of fraud but we do not discuss investigations at all,” Deters said. He said the complaints came from “a variety of sources.”

[snip]

The fraud allegations that led to the Hamilton County grand jury investigation did not come from local election officials, said county elections board Deputy Director John Williams.

Brunner has ordered counties to immediately investigate any claims of fraud, and report the findings to county prosecutors and to her office.

“This office is unaware of any specific allegations of illegal voting out of that county,” said Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega.

Again, just because both of these efforts have direct ties to McCain’s state campaign doesn’t mean they’re trying the same scheme. But here’s a description of what the first Republican operative–Stephen Haller–seems to be targeting.

Tom Miller, chief of the prosecutor’s civil division, said Fischer is seeking information so that he can prevent voter fraud. He made it clear to prosecutors that his concerns were not partisan, Miller said, even noting during their discussion that students at one college, Cedarville, tend to vote Republican.

Among concerns presented to county officials were that college students who voted during the window would be able to vote again in their home counties on Election Day, and that early voters might simultaneously register and vote in Ohio and in another state, Miller said.

"There’s certain information that the sheriff was hoping to appear on that voter registration that might enable him to track backward and determine whether there was any voter fraud or not," Miller said.

If Deters only subpoenaed students’ registration information, it might explain why he only sought records of some of the voters who had registered early.  

I’m not sure what these guys are trying–aside from raising concerns that voting may get you in trouble with the law. But it sure raises some concerns.

As reported, Colin Powell just endorsed Obama, calling him a "transformational figure." He listed several reasons for his choice:

• Obama’s response to the economic meltdown
• Obama’s ability to reach all classes, races, and parties
• Obama’s rhetorical ability and his substance
• McCain’s erratic response to the economic crisis
• Palin’s lack of preparedness for the Presidency
• McCain’s smears
• The wingnuttia of the Republican Party
• The danger of two more conservatives on SCOTUS (he’s probably thinking about all the anti-torture decisions)
• The attacks on Muslims (he mentions a Muslim woman burying her son in Arlington)–this was one of the most powerful parts of the endorsement

Just as interesting was what Powell had to say in a short availability after his appearance on MTP. His last question addressed the McCain campaign smears again. He called out Michelle Bachmann on her McCarthyist rant. Also, Powell made a really great defense of Obama’s tax policy, pointing out that all tax policy involves redistribution of wealth, it’s just a question of where it gets redistributed; he also pointed out that most people get their taxes back by using the services government provides. 

Say what you will about the value of Colin Powell’s endorsement. But whether you want it or not, please accept the importance in Powell calling out the McCain smears and attacks on Obama and America’s Muslims.

In all the hubbub over the election, debates, McCain inciting racial strife and, of course, our economy continuing to fall off the face of the earth, the usually astute American public consciousness has lost track of a critically important story they usually would be all over. Tom Brady has undergone yet another knee operation. That is not good. Not to mention that Giselle must be getting cranky from the loss of consortium in their love shack. Peyton Manning demonstrated that knee surgeries now come in pairs though, so maybe it is nothing to worry about. You folks up there in Beantown better not let Randy Moss here about this though, because he was just starting to come out of his funk with Cassell.

National Favre League – Jeebus, it really is not a great week for captivating matchups. Check out the schedule, fairly bleak. Brett and the Jets visit Freep country up in Oakland. Maybe Al Davis will suit up, he may still be the toughest goat on the Raiders. Bolts at Bills, Saints at Panthers and Vikes at Da Bears are the only even halfway interesting regular schedule games. The real class, such that it is this week, are the Sunday night and Monday night games, Colts at Cheeseheads and Doncos at Pats, respectively.

Bowl Division, Smole Division (NCAA) – Okay, I want to come clean; I think the BCS is a bunch of shit. There; now I feel better. Big game of interest to Wheelheads seems to be the Wolvereenies at Joe Pa. Already the carping. Already the rationalizing from the Schembechler Whinery Region.

Kansas at Oklahoma appears to be a good game to watch. By far, the most interesting game would look to be Missouri at Texas. Chase Daniel is a pretty special kid, but so apparently is Colt McCoy. The battle between those two will probably be continuing on Sundays for many years into the future. For this year though, Texas looks to have too much for Missouri, and that and home field should carry the day. The other interesting game is LSU at South Carolina. Spurrier has a knack for these situations; Gamecocks in an upset.

MLB – The Sawx are dead. Long live the Sawx! I said when the season started that the Red Sawx may not be all that without their big prick, Curt Shilling. I am sticking with that prediction. Much to the chagrin of Ishmael, Bay State Librul, Neil, Phred and many other fine folks up Beantown way, I just don’t think they can pull it out this year. Say what you will about the Shill, but he has "it" when it comes to that last ounce of playoff toughness. It is not just with the Sawx either, the Diamondbacks couldn’t do it without the jerk either. MLB is going to commit hari kari, but the series is going to be Tampa Bay and Philly. Hari kari may be justified.

F1 Circus – This weekend is the penultimate race of the season, the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. From FoxSports:

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton put himself in prime position to claim the Formula One title this weekend by taking the pole position Saturday for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton set a top time of 1 minute, 36.303 seconds, and will start Sunday’s race ahead of Ferrari pair Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who were second- and third-fastest.

Hamilton leads Massa by five points in the drivers’ championship with two races left in the season. To clinch the title here, he would need to finish on the podium and gain six more points than the Brazilian.

The front row for China is the same as the previous race in Japan, where Hamilton braked too late, forced Raikkonen off at the first corner and consequently received a pit drive-through penalty and finished outside the points.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who has won the past two grands prix and had vowed to try his best to help Massa win the title, will start from fourth on the grid.

BMW’s Robert Kubica, who still has slim hopes of snatching the title, put in his worst qualifying performance of the season and finished in the 12th spot, complaining of understeer.

Hamilton enters the Chinese GP five points ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and twelve up on Kubica. But with both Ferraris right next to and behind him on the grid, Hamilton is going to have to earn his first title; and it was not until the last race of the season last year that Hamilton lost grip, so it is not over till it is over. It ain’t over. Again, the race is tonight, not Sunday morning, on Speed TV.

Trash it up!

We were discussing yesterday whether having the guy who lied to the UN to justify our illegal war in Iraq endorse Obama is a good thing or not. I wrote this.

One more thought on Powell.

I’m outtamyarse guessing that whether or not he endorses on Sunday, he will say something about the violence being stoked by McPalin.

It’s another moment–even more important one, IMO–like the UM affirmative action cases before SCOTUS, when he came out strongly for affirmative action. And this kind of racially-tinged violence would offend his sense of both decency–and what is necessary for a healthy country (you could even argue it hurts the troops when this kind of racism is stoked).

I even wonder (really outtmyarse) whether Powell was the one who got McCain to correct the woman who called Obama an Arab terrorist. Powell is one of the few people who could get McCain to do what he wants right now, bc McCain still wants to forestall an Obama endorsement. And McCain’s failure to call off the she-dog might well be enough to tip Powell. 

Apparently, my outta-arse is working better on politics these days than it is on football–at least for the first part of my guess (h/t karpaty lviv).

 Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is widely expected Sunday to denounce the personal attacks against Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

[snip]

The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell’s former chief of staff, said his ex-boss was "upset" by the "vitriol, bile and prejudice" aimed at Obama on the campaign trail.

"We’ve talked about this and I know it really bothers him and I’d expect him to talk about it," he said.

Say what you will about Powell, but unlike (say) Clarence Thomas, Powell has always done the right thing on race in this country. And the right thing, right now, is to shut down the ugly, violent racism driving the McCain campaign. 

If Powell is successful at shaming McCain into calling off his dogs, it will be a very important thing–not only for getting Obama elected, but also for governing this country going forward. 

So let me get this straight: All those civil servants and employees of the military-industrial complex living in northern VA are Communists.

They are unpatriotic and anti-American.

And they are not "real" Virginians.

I get that the McPalin campaign is all-but conceding that they cannot win the votes of those who know government best, including many many members of the military and national security community. I might ask why they’re conceding that, why they seem to admit they can’t gain any resonance with these voters, but whatever–I guess they’ve seen the polling.

What I really want to know, though, is how this is not, effectively, a concession for the entire race. McCain has admitted he needs to win all the Bush states that are currently still toss ups: FL, NC, MO, IN, CO, NV.

And VA.

(IA and NM, in which Obama holds big poll margins right now, would bring Obama to 263; VA has 13 electoral college votes.)

Yet his campaign seems to be pursuing a strategy designed to offend the largest chunk of Virginia’s population.

There’s something funny about the McCain campaign’s complaints about the NYT’s front page piece on Cindy today. They released a letter that John Dowd sent to the NYT on October 1. He writes:

I write to appeal to your sense of fairness, balance and decency in deciding whether to publish another story about her. I do this well knowing your paper’s obvious bias for Barack Obama and your obvious hostility to John McCain. I ask you to put your biases and agendas aside.

[snip]

I am advised that you assigned two of your top investigative reporters who have spent an extensive amount of time in Arizona and around the country investigating Cindy’s life including her charity, her addiction and her marriage to Senator McCain. None of these subjects are news.

I am also advised that your reporters are speaking to Tom Gosinski and her cousin Jamie Clark, neither of whom are reliable or credible sources. Mr. Gosinski has been publicly exposed as a liar and a blackmailer on the subject of Cindy McCain. Jamie Clark has very serious drug and stability issues and has failed in a number of attempts to blackmail Cindy. She is simply not credible.

[two long paragraphs on Gosinski] 

Any further attempts to harrass or injure her based on the information from Gosinski and Clark will be met with an appropriate response. While she may be in the public eye, she is not public property nor the property of the press to abuse and defame.

[snip]

I ask you to let Cindy McCain carry on in her usual understated, selfless and dignified way. The fabrications and lies of blackmailers are not fit to print in any newspaper but particularly not the New York Times.

In short, this letter is primarily a thinly disguised (and, IM[NAL]O, legally suspect) warning against repeating the stories of Gosinski and Clark. Note, for example, that Dowd’s letter was written more than two weeks after the WaPo published a story heavily reliant on Gosinski as a source, which Dowd has apparently not responded to with threats of "an appropriate response." Nevertheless, Dowd wrote Bill Keller and tried to scare Keller away from reporting on Gosinski.

So, 18 days after Dowd wrote his letter, the NYT wrote their piece. Look closely at it. See what’s not in it?

Any reference to Gosinski or Clark. In fact, the totality of the discussion of Cindy’s addiction is,

Mrs. McCain busied herself with the American Voluntary Medical Team, a charity she founded to supply medical equipment and expertise to some of the neediest places on earth, like Micronesia, Vietnam and Kuwait in the weeks after the Persian Gulf war.

[snip]

In 1994, Mrs. McCain dissolved the charity after admitting that she had been addicted to painkillers for years and had stolen prescription drugs from it. She had used the drugs, first given for back pain, to numb herself during the Keating Five investigation, she confessed to Newsweek magazine. “The newspaper articles didn’t hurt as much, and I didn’t hurt as much,“ she wrote in an essay. “The pills made me feel euphoric and free.”

In other words, Dowd’s letter apparently achieved its intended objective–to dissuade the NYT from relying on two particular sources.

And look at the sources the NYT does rely on: "a friend," "[Cindy] has said," "friends say," "a former Arizona congressman who knows the couple [commenting Cindy’s willingness to do anything for the campaign]," "those close to Mrs. McCain," "some of Mr. McCain’s Washington friends," "fellow mothers at their children’s schools," "Diana Dunn, who socialized with the couple," "Lisa Boepple, a former chief of staff," "the friend from back home," "Peggy Rubach, a former aide," "Wes Gullet, a former aide," "G. Darrell Olson, a local jeweler," "Jill Hazelbaker," "friends." Plus a number of direct quotes from Cindy that appeared in other outlets. While there are a few sources who may not be friendly (I’m not sure whether McCain will be buying Cindy’s baubles from Darrell Olson this Christmas, for example), the sources for this story are by and large people close to the McCains and many of them portray Cindy as a very selfless person.

Yet still the McCain campaign is attacking the NYT for the story. 

The McCain campaign pushed back with unprecedented ferocity, with an 11:47 p.m. “Statement on New York Times trash report on Mrs. McCain,” by McCain-Palin spokesman Michael Goldfarb: “Today the New York Times launched yet another in a series of vicious attacks on Senator John McCain, this time targeting not the candidate, but his wife Cindy. Under the guise of a ‘profile’ piece, the New York Times fails to cover any new ground or provide any discernible value to the reader other than to portray Mrs. McCain in the worst possible light. … It is a black mark on the record of a paper that was once widely respected, but is now little more than a propaganda organ for the Democratic party. The New York Times has accused John McCain of running a dishonorable campaign, but today it is plain to see where the real dishonor lies."

This is the same "propaganda organ" that Gov. Palin cited when (selectively but approvingly) quoting from a front-page article on William Ayers.

McCain aides also released what the campaign claims is a Facebook message sent by Times political correspondent Jodi Kantor on Sept. 29 to "a 16 year-old schoolmate of the McCains’ daughter, Bridget": “I saw on facebook that you went to Xavier, and if you don’t mind, I’d love to ask you some advice about a story. I’m a reporter at the New York Times, writing a profile of Cindy McCain, and we are trying to get a sense of what she is like as a mother. So I’m reaching out to fellow parents at her kids’ schools. My understanding is that some of her older kids went to Brophy/Xavier, but I’m trying to figure out what school her 16 year old daughter Bridget attends– and a few people said it was PCDS. Do you know if that’s right? Again, we’re not really reporting on the kids, just seeking some fellow parents who can talk about what Mrs. McCain is like. Also, if you know anyone else who I should talk to– basically anyone who has encountered Mrs. McCain and might be able to share impressions– that would be great. Thanks so much for any help you can give me.”  [my emphasis]

Now, I agree the story isn’t terribly flattering. With regards to Cindy, it calls her on some apparent false claims made by and about her–though it never accuses her or the campaign of lying. Otherwise, it just makes her sound lonely and sad–but no lonelier than she appears standing on stage at rallies. 

The real damage, I think, is how the story reflects on John McCain, whose mother-in-law used to call the local jeweler to arrange gifts from McCain to Cindy because he apparently "didn’t have time" to buy them himself. The story portrays McCain as someone totally unworthy of the devotion Cindy gives him. Frankly, I do think that’s useful news to tell voters.

But what I don’t get is why, if the McCain campaign wants to claim the NYT ambushed them with an attack piece, they at the same time provide evidence that the NYT backed off the specific topics the McCains wanted them to back off of.