Allegations have been floating around for days that the New York Times spiked a story that linked the Obama campaign to ACORN, the organization connected to voter registration fraud and other unsightly tactics. The story, which could’ve inflicted heavy political damage to Barack Obama, apparently showed that the organization and official campaign were coordinating efforts.

Last evening, Bill O’Reilly played audio from a voice mail message left by NYT reporter Stephanie Strom on whistleblower Anita Moncrief’s answering machine. Strom explained in the message why the story wouldn’t go forward as planned.

STROM: Hi, Anita, it’s Stephanie. I have just been asked by my bosses to stand down. … They want me to hold off on coming to Washington. Ah, sorry, I take my orders from higher up, ah, sometimes. Anyway, I’m sorry about this and we’ll still be in touch. Take care, and, ah, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you. Take care. Goodbye.

Why should we believe any of this? Because Anita Moncrief testified before Congress, under penalty of perjury, that Strom called the information she provided a “game changer”. She also testified that the paper had spiked the story on orders from its editors.

So it would appear that the paper hid a damaging story, showing the Obama campaign’s violation of federal election laws, in order to protect its candidate of choice. To say this is journalistic malpractice is like saying Hitler was a tad bit antisemitic. Why anyone would believe the Gray Lady any more is beyond me.

Via Hot Air.