Surprising Admission From The Times

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Better Late Than Never?

The New York Times admits it dropped the ball in covering the controversies surrounding the liberal community organizing group ACORN and the resignation of the White House green jobs adviser.

The Times' public editor Clark Hoyt writes in a piece called "Tuning In Too Late":

"As more videos were posted and government authorities rushed to distance themselves from ACORN, The Times stood still. Its slow reflexes — closely following its slow response — to a controversy that forced the resignation of Van Jones... suggested [The Times] has trouble dealing with stories arising from the polemical world of talk radio."

Undercover tapes show ACORN workers advising prospective clients on how to break the law, while Jones left the administration after the publication of some past controversial statements. Hoyt says his paper needs to be more alert or "wind up looking clueless or, worse, partisan itself."

The Times will now assign an editor to monitor what it calls "opinion media," to stay on top of similar controversies.

Roll Call

More than 15 percent of the almost $11 million showered on the Senate by Wall Street lobbyists since the beginning of the year has gone to a single senator.

The Center for Responsive Politics says New York Democrat Charles Schumer has pocketed $1.65 million from the industry this year — that's nearly double the next closest senator and five times what the industry has given to any Republican.

The top five recipients include Schumer's New York colleague Kirsten Gillibrand, Majority Leader Harry Reid, Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and Colorado freshman Michael Bennet — all Democrats.

In fact, of the $10.5 million given to the Senate, more than $7.7 million have gone to Democrats. One anonymous Wall Street lobbyist tells The Politico: "It only makes sense that donors want to put their money into the coffers of those who are driving the agenda."

Teaming Up

Couldn't get enough of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi at the United Nations? Well, now Qaddafi and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez say they will form a defense alliance — in the same vein as NATO, but geared toward poorer countries.

Qaddafi said during a weekend summit in Venezuela for African and South American nations that the group will be a "NATO for the south... those who were betting on NATO, we now say to them that we're going to bet on SATO."

Qaddafi criticized the U.S. and other world powers saying: "They say they face terrorism... but they themselves have created the phenomenon... they live in a state of terror as a result of the hatred they've generated."

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.