Throughout our history, newspapers have taken sides in political contests and have used their editorial and news pages to engage in the contests. The New York Times is no exception - at least in this part of its history. And Jack Shafer is right on target when he defends the paper's right to enter the fray.

However, I hope he wasn't meaning to suggest that the Times' reporting on this story was accurate or honorable or ethical because it missed all those standards News stories,- like gossip, often do when they eschew objectivity and understand a story solely through the filter of one particular philosophy.