A controversial New York Times story accusing Sen. John McCain of an untoward relationship with a Washington lobbyist set off a furor among readers and journalists, and seemed to unify conservative commentators around the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
For much of Thursday, a debate raged across the Internet, cable television and talk radio about the Times story, "For McCain, Self-Confidence of Ethics Poses Its Own Risk."
Some journalism analysts and voters said the newspaper story that explored McCain's interaction with the lobbyist exposed hypocrisy by McCain, who has carefully cultivated an image as a maverick who disdains cozy Washington relationships.
Others attacked the front-page story for muddying an investigation of lobbying by suggesting that McCain had an affair with the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, without providing persuasive evidence on that point.
Both the Republican Party and McCain's campaign used the story in e-mail solicitations for contributions.
Calling the Times story "scurrilous" and "a sleazy smear attack," campaign manager Rick Davis said McCain needed donations to "defend our nominee from the liberal attack machine."
Conservative commentators, including some who previously chastised McCain for not hewing closely to their principles, leaped to the candidate's defense.
Radio personality Laura Ingraham, like other critics, noted that the newspaper had been researching the story for several months and accused the Times of delaying publication to do maximum damage.
"You wait until it's pretty much beyond a doubt that he's going to be the Republican nominee," Ingraham said on her morning radio program, "and then you let it drop -- drop some acid in the pool, contaminate the whole pool. That's what the New York Times thinks."
The most popular host in talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, described the story as standard fare for the paper he accuses of coddling the left.
"You're surprised that Page Six-type gossip is on the front page of the New York Times?" said Limbaugh in reference to the gossip column of the tabloid New York Post. Limbaugh, who previously has ripped McCain as a fake conservative, said: "Where have you been? How in the world can anybody be surprised?"
David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network wrote on his blog: "In [the] conservative world, if the New York Times does a 'hit job' on you, then you wear that as a conservative badge of honor. . . . This story could actually help John McCain."
