LA Times: Republican Rag?

Perhaps you have heard of the recent turnover at the LA Times over whether the publisher was willing to lay off massive numbers of employees.  Now we find that under the new publisher they are endorsing Scwarzenegger and publishing pro-republican articles...

The headllne today online was "Election Rattles Dems, Not Gov" and it was paired with an opinion endorsing Schwarzenegger for charting a "moderate" course.  Moderate my ass. The biggest thing he is credited for is passing a global warming bill, and while the recognition that global warming is a problem is important, passing a bill written by the energy and auto companies does not impress me.  The republican "borrow and spend" philosophy does not impress me.

So why did they fire the previous publisher?  Was it financial or political?  I don't know if others have diaried on this.  Feel free to link in the comments if they have, and I will update. Update... While the theory that the takedown was political has been challenged as being merely financial, the title question of whether the times is a republican rag has been answered by their new top story lamenting the likely defeat of Rick Santorum... "Faithful Rally to a Senator in Distress." Aww, poor Rick! Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. Guess I won't be getting a subscription now.