War on Walmart, War on Blogs

The New York Times, the flagship of the MSM, has weighed in on Walmart, "Walmart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign." The Graying Lady, who has had issues about fake stories (Jason Blair) and parrots Dem talking points all the time, is accusing bloggers of being in thrall to the Evil Empire Walmart:

Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.

But the strategy raises questions about what bloggers, who pride themselves on independence, should disclose to readers. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, has been forthright with bloggers about the origins of its communications, and the company and its public relations firm, Edelman, say they do not compensate the bloggers.

Tip on this story from Marathon Pundit, who has more on the genesis of this.

Suffice to say that it is apparent to any reasonably aware person that big labor and the radical feminists are waging war on Walmart.

In Illinois in particular unions blocked a Walmart in Chicago that would have brought jobs and low-cost goods to poor areas of Chicago that are underserved by retailers. And in Illinois the governor allies himself with pro-abortion groups to force Walmart to stock a risky morning-after pill there is little demand for. In the process, freedom of conscience is trampled upon and pharmacists lose their jobs. See my earlier post here. Also here and a mention here.

We might ask the New York Times their source for their story.

But apparently in the view of the New York Times the bloggers real crime is this---that they don't share the World View of the Grand Politically Correct Opinion Maker:

At Edelman, Mr. Manson, who sends many of the e-mail messages to bloggers, works closely on the Wal-Mart account with Mike Krempasky, a co-founder of RedState.org, a conservative blog. Both are regular bloggers, which in Mr. Manson's case means he has written critically of individuals and groups Wal-Mart may eventually call on for support.

Before he was hired by Edelman in November, Mr. Manson wrote on the Human Events Online blog that members of the San Francisco city council were "dolts" and "twits" for rejecting a proposed World War II memorial and that every day "the United Nations slides further and further into irrelevance." After he was hired, Mr. Manson wrote that the career of Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was marked by "pointless indecision."

How extreme---wanting to honor veterans of an anti-Nazi war, being opposed to the dictator-dominated UN and being frustrated with a RINO.