The blogosphere is abuzz with the New York Times story about presumptive GOP nominee John McCain and the nature of his relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. It remains unclear why the paper sat on the story since December. But whether or not the New York Times has had the goods on John McCain, it didn't stop them from endorsing him in the state's Republican primary last month.

On January 25th, the New York Times gave McCain its stamp of approval in the Empire State's Super Tuesday GOP contest. In an editorial that lambasted the Republican Party and its field of White House hopefuls (especially former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani), the Times was comparatively effusive about McCain:

Still, there is a choice to be made, and it is an easy one. Senator John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe. With a record of working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation, he would offer a choice to a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field...

...He has been a staunch advocate of campaign finance reform, working with Senator Russ Feingold, among the most liberal of Democrats, on groundbreaking legislation, just as he worked with Senator Edward Kennedy on immigration reform.

That doesn't make him a moderate, but it makes him the best choice for the party's presidential nomination.

Given the implications of today's Times article (and subsequent Washington Post piece), McCain's credentials as a "staunch advocate of campaign finance reform" would appear in jeopardy. The paper did not, as the Drudge Report first detailed, run with the Iseman story in December. While the New Republic is not confirming the McCain campaign's claims that it forced the Times' hand in publishing the piece, the magazine's Noam Scheiber reports that "TNR correspondent Gabe Sherman is working on a piece about the Times' foot-dragging on the McCain story, and the back-and-forth within the paper about whether to publish it."

In the meantime, conservatives at the National Review and Town Hall will proclaim John McCain the victim of the liberal media assault by the nation's paper of record. Of course, just last month, they were decrying his support by the New York Times.

Regardless, whatever wrongdoing prompted the New York Times to print its McCain imbroglio today was apparently not serious enough to withhold its endorsement in January.

UPDATE 1: Gabe Sherman's New Republic piece, "The Long Run-Up: Behind the Bombshell in The New York Times", is now available online.

UPDATE 2: Don Davis at Satirical Political notes with tongue in cheek that for the New York Times , "Self Confidence on Journalism Poses Its Own Risk."