Thursday, October 29, 2026

“All The Gossip That Fits”

The NYT is so desperate to find an October surprise they bury the lede:

1) The staffer retracted her statement.

2) The staffer was a fired disgruntled employee.

3) They stuff this line in the article:

"Ballot-stacking tactics are common in politics and generally considered legal — and have been employed by both parties in Alaska."
That would be like this:
Seriously NYT?

"Last week, as The Times prepared to publish this article, Ms. Rios, who had been planning to file a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Peltola campaign, contacted The Times and said she wanted to take back her previous statements.

“As discussed on our call earlier today, I am confirming that I have retracted all statements made regarding the 2026 Alaska Senate Race in connection with any article you may or may not be writing,” Ms. Rios wrote. “I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity.”

It is rare for a source to seek to retract comments made in previous interviews, and The Times’s standards do not obligate reporters to comply with such requests. The Times had never agreed that those previous interviews could not be published, and informed Ms. Rios last week that they would be a part of this story."
Deja vu all over again:
But some Alaska voters said the Times report did little to change their views.

Keven Kleweno, a registered Republican planning to vote for Peltola, said he was unsurprised by the news, given Republicans’ prior claims of Democratic involvement in Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign.

“That's nothing that we haven't heard before,” he said.

But at the same time, he suggested that Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager who spoke to the Times about the campaign’s involvement, was a disgruntled ex-employee who “didn’t like being laid off.”

“I just feel it's another way to, you know, slander Peltola and try to make sure Dan worthless Sullivan is reelected,” he said.
And maybe voters in Alaska ain’t that stupid:
Adam Lees of Anchorage is registered nonpartisan and supports Peltola. He said his opinions of the Senate race were already “mostly baked in.” Still, he said, the reported effort to stack the ballot is “not the best look.”

“It does give — I think as some of the kids would describe it — icky vibes,” he said. “But at the same time, I think voters are intelligent and can figure out how to rank and can figure out which Dan Sullivan is their person.”

Amber McClelland, a registered Democrat and former Libertarian living in Anchorage, said she agreed. Politics wasn’t always this “dirty,” she said — recruiting a candidate just to draw votes away from an opponent “should not be a thing.”

“It's kind of messed up,” she said. “But in the past, Republicans have done everything that they can do to win, including cheat.”
It really is a different world in the largest state:
In Petersburg, residents who have known Dan J. Sullivan for decades had a hard time reconciling the picture the Times painted with the man they know. Erica Kludt-Painter said she doesn’t believe he worked behind the scenes with the Democrats to stack the ballot.

“I just don't see him being involved in a national conspiracy,” she said. “I'm sorry, I just don't. I know him to be a man of integrity who cares about his community and the people in it.”

Petersburg Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton-Gregor said the community knows Dan J. Sullivan is a man of “high character,” and he doesn’t see the Times story changing anyone’s opinion of him. He said he was disappointed in the article.

“I just wish at this stage of the game, the New York Times was talking about substantive issues that really impact people in Petersburg's lives and Alaskans' lives, whether it be gas prices, foreign wars, etc,” he said. “Things that have real-world consequences, as opposed to a distant three- or four-place candidate.”

D.J. McBride, an independent voter living in Willow planning to vote for Peltola, was taken aback by the suggestion that Alaskans couldn’t distinguish the senator from the retired teacher.

“Both sides play pretty dirty pool, and if you're stupid enough that you can't tell the difference between an incumbent and a non-incumbent, I don't have any patience for you,” she said. “Alaskans are smarter than that.”
Real news, v. gossip. The NYT tradition continues. 

And about that confusing ballot:
Icing the cake. And the real elephant in the room:
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)