Right Rallies to McCain's Defense Against NYT

Conservative media figures who previously shunned John McCain stood up for him today—but also said he had it coming to him for wooing the mainstream press, ABC reports. Sean Hannity called the New York Times story on McCain's relationship with a lobbyist “beyond disgraceful." Rush Limbaugh, lumping the media in with the left, said, “The lesson is liberals are to be defeated. You cannot reach across the aisle.”

Laura Ingraham slammed the Times for an anti-Republican bent, saying it intended to “drop some acid in the pool, contaminate the whole pool.”  She also said McCain should have turned to radio hosts today instead of holding a press conference. Glenn Beck lamented that the Times didn’t run its piece in December, “when we still had decent candidates to pick from.” (More John McCain stories.)