This morning, we e-mailed some of our go-to media figures that be to ask them for their take on the whole New York Times/John McCain/lobbyist situation. We're going to post their replies tomorrow, but Slate's Jacob Weisberg kinda sorta nailed it in his e-mail to us:

"The New York Times no longer wants to be last on politics and sex stories."

Meanwhile, some required reading re: NYT/McCain/scandalgate/etc...

Jack Shafer: McCain's Smoking Blonde

Timothy Noah: New York Times 0, New Republic 0, McCain 1

Gabriel Sherman: The Story Behind The 'Times' McCain Story