Monday, February 18, 2008
Rewriting history at the New York Times
The New York Times has imagined "southern" Republican Senators who never existed, an error so fundamental that one is forced to wonder whether the Times has any actual editors. Or are they merely all under the age of 45 and entirely unschooled in political history?
Nixon's "southern strategy" is famous for a reason.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.
9 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Feb 18, 06:54:00 PM:
Could it be that the paper both lacks editors and that the reporters are ignorant?
Soon, the Sulzbergers will have lost all their equity value completely, and a new owner will revitalize the paper. Among the revolutionary innovations the new owner will introduce will be editors.
By , at
Mon Feb 18, 09:05:00 PM:
Actually, the paper says "southern Republicans". It does not mention senators. Mr. Goldberg infers that it meant senators.
So, perhaps Mr. Goldberg was going a step too far.
On the other hand, as rare as southern Republican senators were in 1964, it would be safe to say that southern Republicans were a rare breed.
In Texas, for instance, there was Ralph Yarbourough, a Democrat, certainly, but not a Republican.
If memory serves, it was not the southern Republicans (or Democrats), but the northern Republicans who were the key to victory.
By , at
Mon Feb 18, 09:07:00 PM:
What I meant was that Yarborough (or however you spell his name) was not a conservative in the traditional sense of the term.
By , at
Mon Feb 18, 09:58:00 PM:
It would be silly to talk about LBJ cultivating the support of any Republicans (southern or not) *OTHER* than Senators. House passage of the bill was never in doubt. It took a cloture supermajority to move the legislation through the Senate. So no, Mr Goldberg isn't doing any "inferring" that isn't necessary and obvious to the topic at hand-- which is LBJ and the civil rights law.
as to Ralph Yarborough? He was so liberal and out of step with Texas that finally he triggered a tidal wave against himself that swept Lloyd Bentsen into the Senate. John Tower was the only Republican Senator from the Confederate states in 1964.
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Feb 18, 10:53:00 PM:
"wonder whether the Times has any actual editors"
The NY Times has a style book,"The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage : The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World's Most Authoritative Newspaper" by Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly. Yet when I do searches at the Web site of the Times, I come across style inconsistencies on a regular basis. If some of the folks at the Times aren't looking at their own style book, they probably aren't reading other reference material.
By , at
Tue Feb 19, 12:19:00 AM:
The NEW YORK SLIMES rewrites history to suit its socialists agenda
By Andrew Hofer, at
Tue Feb 19, 06:04:00 AM:
Stupid rethugs, don't you understand that since we've successfully labeled you as racist today, it must have been Republicans who opposed integration in the 1960s?
Sure, the labels change, but you know who you are - fascists.
By , at
Tue Feb 19, 10:12:00 AM:
To: Anonymous, at Mon Feb 18, 06:54:00 PM
Actually, the paper says "southern Republicans". It does not mention senators. Mr. Goldberg infers that it meant senators.
Goldberg didn't just infer that she meant senators. Here's the quote from the paper: Johnson’s great mastery was to get the support of Southern Republicans. “It required his understanding of absolutely every single senator,” Ms. Goodwin said.
Granted, the first sentence doesn't say senators, but the second sentence makes it pretty clear that's what she means.
By , at
Thu Feb 21, 01:57:00 PM:
It gets better--The NYT has now deleted "Southern" from the article, with no correction notice that I can find. Check out the current version of the article at the original link above.
