Isn’t it amazing?
The Times is a good target. People who believe in the “left-wing media” believe that the New York Times is the leftiest of them all. The people who believe in the “mainstream media” believe that the Times is the mainest of them all. Hardly anyone has a good word to say about it, except that it’s the best newspaper in the country. But really, how important is that?
Also, the name of the New York Times contains the word “New York.” Many members of the president’s base consider “New York” to be a nifty code word for “Jewish.” It is very nice for the president to be able to campaign against the Jews without (a) actually saying the word “Jew” and (b) without irritating the Israelis. A number of prominent Zionist groups think the New York Times is insufficiently anti-Palestinian, so they think the New York Times isn’t Jewish enough.
Particularly considering that the latest left epithet of “neocon” seems to often really mean “Zionist Jew.”