SCOTUS - Times softens tone of Gonzales story

The New York Times has altered a story so as to significantly change its tone.

On Saturday, July 2, the Times posted a story on its website that some prominent conservatives are formulating an opposition strategy in the event President Bush nominates U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court. The Times wrote that many conservatives are concerned that Gonzales might not be sufficiently committed to overturning Roe v. Wade, and that some are publicly warning the president that they would not consider him a satisfactory nominee.

The original UncommonSense analysis of the story is here.

I noted that issuing public warnings to the president in the pages of the New York Times seemed like a foolhardy strategy; that it could put Bush in the position of having to defy these conservative leaders if for no other reason than to avoid looking like their lackey.

It turns out that those warnings did not, in fact, make it to the printed page. The version of the story which appeared in Sunday's national print edition of the Times has been altered significantly from the online version.

The online piece contained the following paragraphs.

Late last week, a delegation of conservative lawyers led by C. Boyden Gray and former Attorney General Edwin Meese III met with the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., to warn that appointing Mr. Gonzales would splinter conservative support.

And Paul M. Weyrich, a veteran conservative organizer and chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, said he had told administration officials that nominating Mr. Gonzales, whose views on abortion are considered suspect by religious conservatives, would fracture the president's conservative backers.

Now, see how this section of the story appeared in the print edition of the Sunday paper (click on the image to enlarge).



The Times has deleted the sentence explaining that C. Boyden Gray, Ed Meese and others took the opportunity to "warn" the president through White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. In the softer, gentler version of the story, they simply "voiced similar views" to those who regard Gonzales' opposition to abortion as "suspect."

Gone entirely is the paragraph containing the quote from Paul Weyrich that a Gonzales nomination would "fracture the president's conservative backers."

The opening paragraph of the print story does mention that some conservatives have warned "in private meetings and public statements" that nominating Gonzales could splinter conservative support, but the story fails to give specifics about any such warnings.