The Airbrushed Candidate

Tom McGuire goes yard in shining bright light on the extent of the twisted intellectual gymnastics that the NYT is employing in order not to damage the Obama campaign:

The enterprising team at All The News That Fits The Narrative work hard to report on Obama's political history without actually disturbing his supporters.

Their coverage of his relationship with Bill Ayers is too incurious to be an accident:

Mr. Obama also fit in at Hyde Park’s fringes, among university faculty members like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, unrepentant members of the radical Weather Underground that bombed the United States Capitol and the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. Mr. Obama was introduced to the couple in 1995 at a meet-and-greet they held for him at their home, aides said.

Now, along with Mr. Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Mr. Ayers has become a prime exhibit in the effort by Mr. Obama’s presidential rivals to highlight what could be politically radioactive associations. In 2001, Mr. Ayers said he did not regret the Weatherman bombings. Even so, in Hyde Park, he and his wife were viewed favorably for their work in addressing city problems. Mr. Ayers was just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” Mr. Obama said recently.

The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city’s education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers’s book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it “a searing and timely account.”

"The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city’s education system"? Bill Ayers was instrumental in writing the grant proposal that led to the formation of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and worked closely with the group for several years after its inception; the first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was Barack Obama. That seems to merit a lot more exposition than the Times delivers. The Times might have started by asking the Obama team whether they would care to expand on their "Fact Check" on the Ayers-Obama relationship, which somehow overlooked their mutual interest in education.

Now, is it possible the Times was utterly unaware of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge connection, yet was broadly aware of their mutual interest in education reform? Who can tell? However, right now a Google on "Obama Ayers Chicago school reform" offers links to four different posts on the first page (1, 2, 3, 4)that mention the relationship, including a Hot Air post helpfully titled "Did Obama Work For Bill Ayers?". Yet somehow the Times either missed this or buried it.

Given the Old Grey Traitor's revelation to our enemies of our own intelligence operations against those who would kill us--not to mention its traditional defense of Communism in all its forms--its recent support of an arguably Marxist candidate should not be that surprising. But one would think that even loyal readers of the Times would eventually notice how ridiculous their attmpts to mislead have become.