To many, the New York Times is a dinosaur, doomed to go the way of all stegosauri.  But the Gray Lady still holds sway in one sector of our society: the Democratic party.  We saw an illustration of the paper’s influence today, when Tom Daschle, explaining to Andrea Mitchell his decision to withdraw his name as HHS Secretary nominee,  cited today’s Times’ editorial calling for his head.

On today’s Hardball, Chris Matthews both acknowledged and complained of the Times’ inordinate influence.  Calling the paper “dictatorial,”  he described it as “the engine of the Democratic party.”

Matthews was kibitzing the Daschle withdrawal with Pat Buchanan and Dem consultant Joe Trippi.

JOE TRIPPI: I realized this morning when I saw the New York Times–I Twittered about it, this was on the net–that this was going to be a big problem.

MATTHEWS: Is that the boss?

TRIPPI: Excuse me?

MATTHEWS: Is the New York Times the boss?  I’m serious about this.  Is the New York Times the boss of the Democratic party?

A bit later, Matthews answered his own question in the affirmative.

MATTHEWS: I do believe it is dictatorial.  I believe the New York Times is the engine of the Democratic party.

Republicans might take encouragement from the fact that the Dem party apparently lets itself be led by a newspaper which, at least according to media maven Michael Hirschorn, could be gone by May. Speaking of Republicans, Pat Buchanan let it be known that his old boss Ronald Reagan laughed off the Times’ taunts. According to Buchanan, Reagan was much more concerned with criticism from the conservative Human Events.