We can talk about how the New York Times is “failing” all day, but one thing is for certain, and it’s that the Gray Lady is one of the most powerful and popular news organizations in the world.

It’s tragic, then, that the paper is so biased in a leftist direction. It’s no fan of the GOP and makes it quite apparent. It absolutely loathes President Donald Trump to the point where it willingly publishes fictional stories that involve his assassination.

So it was an absolute surprise to me that the NYT published a story about Democratic Texas candidate for Senate, Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, and his shady dealings during his time as an El Paso politician.

The story, according to the New York Times, goes that while O’Rourke was on the El Paso city council he became involved with a land grab deal through the use of eminent domain that would steal away land from some of the poorest members of the community. The land would then be developed by the company, the Paso del Norte Group, on which his father-in-law served as a high ranking member. What’s more, O’Rourke’s own privately owned company, Stanton Street Technology Group, was providing technologies to his father-in-law’s company, further making this a lucrative deal for him and his family.

During a town hall about the deal, the poorer residents of El Paso confronted O’Rourke, who was put before the people as the “pretty face of this very ugly plan” according to local historian David Dorado Romo. Some of the footage of that town hall was dug up by the Cruz campaign, which used it in an ad that attacks O’Rourke for his actions.

The entire episode culminated in a failed recall effort on O’Rourke led by a Democrat.

Why didn’t the mainstream media report it up until now? The New York Times did the right thing by publishing this story in detail, and not only that, putting a human face on the story by highlighting some of the people who fought against O’Rourke’s land deal. Don’t get me wrong.

But why did it take so long? The story has been circulating around for some time. In fact, one of the first times it came to light was due to the story published right here on RedState by yours truly all the way back in August. Before that, Ken Webster, Jr., of Houston radio station KPRC published the story as well, and that was all the way back in December of 2017.

Despite the fact that this story is only popping up now in the mainstream, this story is over a decade old as these events took place in 2007/2008.

This deal O’Rourke was a part of has all the hallmarks leftists hate. Here’s a rich white guy screwing over poor minorities in order to further enrich himself and his family. Yet, for the longest time, you couldn’t get a peep out of mainstream press outlets despite the fact that this story has been viewed thousands on thousands of times by readers. I know that for a fact just by looking at my own numbers.

The New York Times dragged its feet on a story that many of us were able to find and compile over the course of an afternoon via official documents posted online, videos on YouTube, and news reports from the area. The New York Times has far more resources than many of us in the media do.

At this point, whatever story the NYT puts out about O’Rourke is moot. He’s gotten all the cash he can grab. His star is so high thanks to all the attention Hollywood as given him that it’s rumored that he’s contemplating a run at the oval office in 2020.

The NYT is a day late and a dollar short on a story that should have been plastered across its pages ages ago. I’m sure many voters in Texas would like to know what kind of guy they’re fawning over, but at this point, people are too invested to care now. In fact, many Democrats turned on the NYT, suspecting it of backing Cruz against O’Rourke, and not even giving the story itself any mind as Emily Zanotti of the Daily Wire points out.

I’d like to look fondly on the NYT for even deeming to publish such a story, which is far more than I expected from the rag, but what good is it to do honest journalism when the iron the story is meant to strike has long cooled?