By this point it's well established fact that the Times is far more likely to attack Democrats over relatively trivial points when it ought to be attacking Republicans over important points. There's various speculation as to why. Ownership of the newspaper is a factor. Trying to appear centrist is definitely a second factor.

And that newspaper does a very bad job of it. But I sympathize with any paper who tries to be centrist because at some point you either align your reporting with reality or you lose credibility. And many of us realize years ago that the Times just doesn't have much credibility to spare.