And It's Only February

The New York Times unloads an anti-McCain story tomorrow, linking McCain to a much-younger female lobbyist.

The paper also discusses the Keating scandal at length, as I predicted a couple weeks ago: "The long-suppressed stories about McCain's anger, profanity, and his ego will start turning up in the press regularly, along with concerns about his age and health. We'll start hearing about the Keating Five again, too."

The FReepers are busy speculating about the who's and why's of this story hitting the paper this early in the year. I have to say I'm surprised the paper didn't hold their fire until after the nominating conventions, when such articles could do the most damage.

More from the Drudge Report archives. Apparently McCain and the paper have been battling over this story for several weeks.

Update: Thoughts from Rich Lowry at National Review Online. Power Line also weighs in.

The Washington Examiner's Bill Sammon, a panelist on HANNITY AND COLMES this evening, commented that he didn't believe he could have gotten the NYT's story past an editor at any of the papers he'd ever worked for, because it was so poorly sourced and lacking in hard facts.