Fox News Analyst Calls Goldman Whistleblower Column A ‘Political Hit Job’ By The New York Times

A Goldman Sachs employee yesterday publicly resigned via an op-ed in The New York Times, in which he called the firm “toxic and destructive,” saying that Goldman traders consistently talk about how much profit they are making by ripping off their clients. Goldman quickly mobilized a smear campaign against the former employee, Greg Smith, with “people familiar with the matter” saying that Smith was just miffed at not getting promotions and receiving a comparatively small bonus.

Financial prognosticators on cable news, of course, were quick to take Goldman’s claims and run with them, mocking Smith and saying that he should go start a media firm with the characters from Sesame Street. And today, Fox News’ Charlie Gasparino took on a new target, The New York Times itself, saying that the column was a “political hit job” by the paper of record, and an attempt by the Times to garner credit with the Occupy Wall Street movement:

GASPARINO: I don’t think we can underplay the political significance here. This is different than the New York Times business staff going out and doing an investigate report on what this guy said, you know, using it to develop anecdotes…This is The New York Times, as an institution, this is an op-ed, raising its gun and pointing it at Goldman Sachs. And there’s a political issue here, I believe, many people believe on Wall Street, that it’s playing up to the Occupy Wall Street people, the President’s class warfare rhetoric. This is a political hit job, in many ways…You have to ask what The New York Times’ motives are. This is a political hit job…And remember, what has the New York Times been on a roll about? Occupy Wall Street. Class warfare.

Watch it:

Gasparino also claimed that Smith was merely angry that he wasn’t promoted. “He’s never made managing director, that’s a big thing,” Gasparino said. “There’s a little bit of sour grapes here.” Yesterday, Gasparino tweeted that some Goldman employees were disparaging Smith’s views because “he never made more than $750,000 a year.”