Shocking NYT Headline: 'Welcome to the MSNBC, Er, Democratic Convention'

A few months ago, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh accused NBC News of being "an annex of the Democratic National Committee."

On Wednesday, the New York Times published an article titled "Welcome to the MSNBC, Er, Democratic Convention" that largely made Limbaugh's case:

Sure, the events here in Charlotte are a national celebration of the Democratic Party and its presidential nominee. But in many ways, it’s the MSNBC Convention.

Network, party and partisan moment have collided, felicitously, in Charlotte. MSNBC’s on-air personalities are mobbed in the street, snarling pedestrian traffic. Its network-branded pins, coffee cups and tote bags are ubiquitous collectors’ items for delegates. Its promotional posters and banners are so ostentatious that Willie Geist, an MSNBC host, has compared them to North Korean propaganda. [...]

Four years ago, there was open anxiety inside MSNBC over having the unabashedly partisan Keith Olbermann anchor convention coverage. But the era of liberal hand-wringing appears to have passed. “I feel they are part of this convention,” explained Lorret Battist, a 58-year-old MSNBC fan from Atlanta, who excitedly snapped a picture of Mr. Scarborough on the sidewalk on Tuesday. “They are in tune with the people here.”

Can someone explain what this has to do with journalism or why the so-called reports from this farce of a "news network" should be in anyway taken seriously given its obvious ties to the Democratic Party?

I mean, if the Times, one of the most liberal newspapers in the country, not only recognizes the connection but is also willing to report it, isn't the cat so far out of the bag that there should be consequences for such violations of professionalism?

Or is all fair in love, war, and political activism?

(HT Andrew Kirell)