The New York Sun has a fine and fun editorial taking issue with a Times "room for debate" contribution by Ali Wyne that describes a congressional recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as "partisan sabotage." The Sun editorial points out that the measure passed the Senate unanimously and the House nearly unanimously:
Suppose one wanted to give Mr. Wyne and the Times the benefit of the doubt as to whether it's partisan. Which party is for it? The Republicans who voted for it? Or the Democrats who voted for it? Or would it be the Republican president (George W. Bush) who first refused to enforce the provision or the Democratic president (Barack Obama) who subsequently refused to enforce the measure?
Let us just say it is a mystery of the Times. Maybe the Gray Lady has reached a point where anything with which it disagrees is partisan. Perhaps it has concluded that Israel is automatically partisan.
An additional point, not mentioned in the Sun editorial, has to do with the way the Times identifies Mr. Wyne. The Times identifies him as "Ali Wyne, Harvard University." Mr. Wyne is a 2008 graduate of MIT; his Harvard affiliation is "former research assistant, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs" at Harvard's Kennedy School. What is it about the anti-Israel crowd that so attracts them to the Belfer banner, and what is it about the New York Times that causes a former research assistant's institutional affiliation to be listed as "Harvard University"?