Here’s a shock: Retired New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse donated to the Obama campaign. Greenhouse revealed the donation in a nytimes.com column expressing her ambivalence about McCain-Feingold’s stringent restrictions on campaign speech.
In "Hurry Up and Wait," an Opinionator piece on campaign finance reform posted December 17 at nytimes.com, Greenhouse admitted donating to the Obama presidential campaign in 2008.
Receiving such requests was a new experience for me after my years at The Times, which doesn’t permit reporters to make political contributions. After I left the paper in mid-2008, I made a few contributions: to a respected state judge caught in a nasty retention election, to a Congressional candidate whose campaign was managed by the daughter of a high school friend, to the Obama campaign.
That comes as no surprise to anyone who read her reporting, in which she lavished love on liberal justices, or her June 2006 speech at Harvard lamenting “the sustained assault on women's reproductive freedom and the hijacking of public policy by religious fundamentalism."
Greenhouse discussed the Supreme Court delaying until next year its decision on the campaign finance case regarding “Hillary: The Movie“ by the conservative group Citizens United. One clue: When a journalist talking campaign finance "reform" says they take the First Amendment seriously (shouldn’t that be a no-brainer?) watch out. There’s always a qualifier, like Greenhouse's concerns about "seeing democracy auctioned off to the highest bidder," a strong echo of left-wing rhetoric.
I realize that uncertainty is an undesirable trait in an opinion columnist, but I have to confess to long-standing agnosticism on the campaign finance issue. I take the First Amendment arguments seriously, and I think that the provision of McCain-Feingold at issue in the original Citizens United case -- banning corporate-paid “electioneering communications” from the airwaves during the weeks before an election -- goes too far toward suppressing legitimate expression. (Citizens United presented the narrow, fact-specific question of whether a film titled “Hillary: The Movie,” a feature-length political attack on Hillary Rodham Clinton intended for video-on-demand cable television, was the sort of “electioneering communication” to which the statute applied.)But I also believe that the First Amendment doesn’t require resigning ourselves to seeing democracy auctioned off to the highest bidder. It is, in other words, an exquisitely tough issue, made no simpler by decades of inconsistent Supreme Court decisions that have produced legal doctrine so muddled as to be “beyond incoherence,” in the words of Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
—Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times. You can follow him on Twitter here





















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Comments Policy
Ding, Dong the Times is dead.
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 11:32 ET by Kirk TurnerThe wicked Times is dead.
It' a long, grim death too...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 11:48 ET by unkeeafIt's not a massive heart attack death, it is a slow painful kind.
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Great Democrat's Are Despicable Card:
http://bit.ly/4CU98g
OMG! Is this woman...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 11:51 ET by goldenthroat...Joy Behar's sister? Why are so many MSM liberal woman so freakin' homely looking?
"Inferior people should not be employed." - Firesign Theatre
I was wondering does Alfred
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 14:36 ET by USA4freedomI was wondering does Alfred E. Newman have a sister??
Ronald Reagan, 1962: I did not leave the Democratic party, the party left me.
Insert: your name, 2008, and the Republican party.
Joy Behar's sister????
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 14:50 ET by adamsmithAre you kidding? Joy Behar looks like Marilyn Monroe compared to this creature from the black lagoon. And mind you, I'm certainly no fan of that fat red headed whining obnoxious piece of Liberal excrement. This broad didn't just fall out of the ugly tree, she hit every branch on the way down, and did it three more times as she was bungy jumping out of said ugly tree...
Her Picture
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 15:32 ET by Tugboat PhilNow I understand the need to reduce Greenhouse gases.
Gun Control - The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.
That's one ugly punim, Linda.
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 11:57 ET by jazbo"Democrats; Breeding voters like farm animals since 1963"
Is that the NY Times reporter Linda Greenhouse...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:01 ET by Darwin Akbar...or a picture of Jerry Lewis doing his "Japanese character" from some Frank Tashlin movie of the 50s?
Mr. Limpet came to mind
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:03 ET by BluegillDon Knotts as the fish, remember?
I was thinking...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:08 ET by jdlybrand...the 'Hee Haw' Donkey.
"What a revoltin' development this is!"
Chester Riley
HEE HAW...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 14:04 ET by danybhoyjdlybrand,
I get the joke, but don't slag anything Hee Haw with Linda Greenhouse. Hee Haw had some of the best looking women on television back in the day. As for Linda, she's a 2-bagger.
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
Chiming in...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:17 ET by stage9“the sustained assault on women's reproductive freedom and the hijacking of public policy by religious fundamentalism."
First, murder is not protected under the Constitution of the United States. Anarchist judges may have allowed this ridiculous and murderous provision, but the term 'reproductive freedom' is nothing more than a sanitized term that means: murder. Whether your'e a woman or not, murder is not a right.
Second, Planned Parenthood, the largest infanticide provider the world over was started by pro-eugenic, pro-abortion advocate Margaret Sanger whose organization was founded to maintain a so-called “fit” nation and keep society from being filled with, in the words of Sanger, “the most far-reaching peril to the future of civilization” (referring to people of different ethnic groups). Margaret Sanger was a racist.
Second, public policy WAS in the hands of so-called "religious fundamentalism" well before the screwball case of Everson v. Board of Education outlawed it. In this case the activist judge declared: "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach."
Notice the application of language which theretofore was not even remotely in keeping with the Constitution. This language was purposefully used to silence religion in public discourse.
Religion has ALWAYS been a staple of American politics. If it wasn't then the founders are all schizophrenic or have a lot of explaining to do seeing as how they agreed to sign the Declaration of Independence which states that all men are CREATED equal and endowed with rights by their CREATOR, and of which 24 of the 56 signers held the equivelant of seminary and Bible school degrees!
And that is only a single example. There is overwhelming evidence of the faith of our founders in Jesus Christ and the influence of the church in public debate.
It wasn't until the case of Everson vs the Board of Education in 1949 that everything changed and the stench of secularism finally had its greenlight.
"If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take his place. It will be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner." — Malcolm Muggeridge
Keith to his producer
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:30 ET by Yephora"Book her!" -- Keith Overbite
Integrity thy name is the NY Slimes
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:39 ET by hughglass"The Times, which doesn’t permit reporters to make political contributions." Priceless! I guess the millions of dollars worth of advertising the Slimes has provided for leftists in their editorials and their "hard news" stories doesn't count..Nevermind the all the ink smearing Conservatives. People like greenhouse and sulzburger really are the scum of the earth. That's why God made 'em so ugly!
Perhaps she should have donated
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 13:24 ET by carolina09to some orthodontists.
It doesn't make a difference.
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 15:29 ET by pbthinkerI would be amazed if any liberal claimed they didn't donate to and vote for Obama. This was their time to shine, make history, and say to heck with journalism.
There is no doubt, in my mind at least, that the journalism of the past is dead. Everything in the LSM, from now on, must be viewed through the prism of the bias they have.
The only question should be when does the coverage, provided by a biased press, become a campaign contribution? If you're trashing all conservatives and only trumpeting liberals, democrats, and their causes, it's no longer a free press doing it but campaign literature being put out to the public.
Let 2008/2009 be the years where the press was exposed for what they are. They are responsible for the election of Barack Obama and their climate change reporting is a joke. Those 2 events are enough to show anyone, who believes in the 1st Amendment and a free press, that this group isn't worthy of it.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
I Get it Now!!!!!!
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 15:34 ET by Dad GummitThat explains it! I Understand! Greenhouse Gas IS detrimental to the planet!!!!!
I see the light!
“I’ve never been a widow so fast in my life.” - Donna Lounton, who married convicted murderer James Moody Adams by proxy shortly before his execution.
And firthermore...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 15:37 ET by Dad GummitThat gal could eat watermelon through a picket fence! The only reason any man ever kissed her was because he had itchy tonsils.
Bet her legs are hairy.
“I’ve never been a widow so fast in my life.” - Donna Lounton, who married convicted murderer James Moody Adams by proxy shortly before his execution.
ad hominem city
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 19:32 ET by konoMs. Greenhouse's physical appearance is absorbing a lot of cheap shots here; but her acute case of unattractiveness has a lot more to do with her perspective and attitude than with her looks. I'd much prefer a woman who looks like Greenhouse but thinks and acts like Palin, over one who looks like Palin but thinks and acts like Greenhouse...
Uh no...
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 09:15 ET by bolivarthis witch could sour a pan of water and that is all there is to it. Her liberal bent does not help but, she could qualify for the pork chop award - you know that one right???? I had to hang a pork chop around her neck to get the dog to play with her????
rimshot!
I have no use for liberal thinking - it is just so......passe.
In case erection lasts for more than four hours...
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 21:51 ET by Jnoble..consult this picture of Linda Greenhouse.
ok, ok, that was mean LOL
Jnoble,
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 21:59 ET by R D HelmYep, that would pretty much do it for me, too.
Funny, everytime I see one of those commercials, I have to wonder which of the two are going to actually require medical attention.
LOL-I am not always convinced it is the male.
-Dave
Uh, no! Consult a physician.
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 22:59 ET by RESTLESS 1Your cure will ensure one never experiences an erection again.
Yeah, it's mean, but it's true. The truth often hurts.
"If the man, with the power, can't keep it under control...some heads are gonna roll." -Judas Priest
I don't make a habit of making fun of someone's looks. But
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 00:56 ET by Rush FanI believe Glenn Beck was right on the money when he said:
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“Then you have the feminists, and the feminists are just a camouflage for another tentacle of liberalism in the Democrat Party, and that's what this is showing. Feminism is not about women. It's about advancing liberal women.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
LOL!
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 01:06 ET by MightyMouthWell I'm sure she has great legs (coverd in hair). I mean really... why shave your legs unless 1. guys like unshaven legs(NOT) or b. No guy is ever going to touch them!(more likely). Just sayin' here so don't jump on MM for being cruel to femanazis. Just "plain" conservative women have a beauty all can see.
"The bureaucracy is growing to meet the needs of the growing bureaucracy"
MM - speaking of hair---
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 01:39 ET by matthewdeanIf there were any justice in this world, Linda Greenhouse would be capable of growing a full face beard.
If the woman had a lick of sense, she would do so.
When this woman spoke at Harvard in 2006 about "the sustained assault on womens' reproductive freedom--", it was very widely theorized that she was definitely speaking from personal experience.
MD
"There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Reproductive Freedom
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 18:16 ET by LynnThis woman doesn't have to worry about her reproductive freedom. She can have all the freedom she wants. No one is going to challenge her on it.
Good Grief, we have a new Helen Thomas waiting in the wings.
The face that launched a
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 19:29 ET by Dan The Man 2The face that launched a thousand ships ... in retreat from her visage.
This picture is shows her in a really bad way, and I have seen her and she does look like this.
Good Lord! Clay, would you
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 21:53 ET by NL207Good Lord! Clay, would you be so good as to remove the photo of that gargoyle! This is a public forum. Nothing that ugly ought to be posted here, not even for shock value!