It's a sign of our times that a 3,000 word article in the New York Times merits a 2,200 word post in the New Republic. But so it is.

The long of the short of it is that the Times had been chasing the story for months. Along with Marc Santora, who left the McCain beat due to the story, Marilyn Thompson, who is bylined on piece, left the Times altogether because of it.

As Drudge posts tend to do, news that the Times was working on this piece in December added more pressure to the story. Yet Bill Keller and other Times staffers insist they decided to run the story last night only because it was ready, and had no political motives. Considering this story will have no effect on the Republican nomination and just makes the Times look likes it stereotype–check out any of the 1764 comments on the piece–it's a legitimate defense.

And really, who cares why the Times ran the piece now? As Bill Keller wrote in an email to Gabe Sherman, the author of the piece, current Portfolio scribe and ex-Observer writer:

This sounds like a pointless exercise to me–speculating about reporting that may or may not result in an article. But if that's what Special Correspondents of The New Republic do, speculate away. When we have something to say, we'll say it in the paper.

Maybe the Times was wrong to run the piece. But here, Keller has a point.