ANTI-BUSH NYT gets TRIFECTA!

The New York Times considers itself Horatio at the Bridge when it comes to protecting the civil liberties of American citizens, so when a story about a year ago started to be pieced together by national security reporter James Risen, you'd think the Grey Lady would hasten to inform Amcits of their imperilled rights.

When the NYT finally broke the story, they did so the day after the successful Iraqi election, depriving much of the good-news momentum Bush had generated. Bush seemed to be turning a corner, then back into process-legalistic-paranoid left wingnut crosshairs.

They did so shortly before the Patriot Act was voted on by the Senate, and the Senate promptly voted down the extension of the Act, which was expected to pass despite a threat of a filibuster by Sen. Russ Fein gold {D-Wis}.

Finally, the NYT printed the story shortly before Risen’s book on the subject is due to come out.

Ann Kornblut of the Times told Chris Mathews on MSNBC’s Hardball that the NYT doesn’t plan the timing of a story to diminish or enhance other stories, not even one so predictable as an election vote planned months ago to the day.

Even Mathews, a reliably left-of-center host of a program notable for not admiring Bush, was skeptical.

After reading Ken Auletta’s flaying of NYT Publisher “Pinch” Sulzberger in The New Yorker, I’m skeptical too.