March 15, 2014 --

The New York Times has become a regular and even eager practitioner of Alinskyism -- that is, the use of demonizing adversaries in place or rational discourse, to achieve a political and/or economic goal.

March 6, the Times reported that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was impressed by a presentation to Senate Democrats on the political effectiveness of pickout out "a villain." The Times noted that this approach explained that the Democratic strategy "of spotlighting the Koch brothers' activities is politically shrewd. Of course, this strategy is nothing but undiluted Alinskyism.

LPR regrets that The New York Times has adopted this strategy, evidenced by its March 11 lead editorial "The Democrats Stand Up to the Kochs."
The editorial applauds the Democrats for "starting to fight back," by, among other things, as stated by Senator Reid, accusing the Koch brothers (Charles G. and David H.) various evil things. The tone of the editorial is to suggest that Republicans will let the Koch brothers increase helathcare costs by polluting the environment.

For LPR, this is a variation on the medieval accusation that Jews poisoned wells. Recently, The New York Times celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court opinion in New York Times v. Sullivan, that dismissed a libel suit against the paper, while celebrating "'uninhibited, robust, and wide-open" debate that "'may well include vehement, caustic, and soimetimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.'"

Clearly, The New York Times is ready to resort to "unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials'" it disagrees with -- while rushing to denounce as anti-government (even, Sen. Reid suggests, "un-American") anyone who would dare to criticize the Obama administration. Unfortunately, there is no effective opposition to Alinskyism in the media. Indeed, the Republican establishment is, LPR believes, cowed by the Alinskyites.