Will a Skewered Press Squash Connie Mack Flack Like a Bug?

It's rare that a high-profile political candidate will pick a fight with one of Florida's larger newspapers, but Connie Mack campaign manager Jeff Cohen threw caution to the wind in blasting the Tampa Bay (nee St. Petersburg) Times.

Cohen issued a statement Thursday saying:

Earlier today a blog post by the Tampa Bay Times carried the headline, 'Mack Campaign: Why We Will Squash LeMieux Like a Bug.'

At no time did I, nor any Mack campaign spokesman, say any such thing. It wasnt said on the record. It wasnt said on background. It wasnt said off the record. It wasnt said at all.

While we certainly promoted recent accomplishments and ongoing successes of Connies campaign for the U.S. Senate, for the Tampa Bay Times to write and attribute a snarky, unprofessional statement of this nature to our campaign is patently false and horribly unprofessional. Its tabloid journalism at its worst. It is arrogant. It is sophomoric. I would fire anyone who said such a thing.

"Reporters misquote and misinterpret. Their spin trumps truth. But make no mistake -- manufactured statements, innuendos and attributions that are so patently false cannot be allowed to stand.

The Times didn't immediately respond, except to scrub its site of the offending verbiage. So, apparently, the editors, if not the blogger, Adam Smith, got the message.

But at least one fellow scribe rushed to the Times' defense, while dabbling in a bit of psycho-analysis.

Scott Powers of the Orlando Sentinel blogged:

"Its a headline on a blog, for goodness sake. Snarky, yes, but its just a whimsical interpretation of the message Cohen appeared to be offering to supporters. Blogs are often snarky.

"Cohen hasnt said so, but it appears as if hes having a bad day."

Amid the professional wagon-circling, you might call this an example of the messenger shooting the messenger. And you can be sure there's more fallout to come.