J. D. Prose – 9/19/09

This page was last updated on September 20, 2009.

NRA misses the mark going after mayors; J. D. Prose; Beaver County Times; September 19, 2009.

As you read this opinion column, keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the Times. In addition to being a pundit, Mr. Prose is a reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.

Regarding his discussion about the NRA and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, I have no clue if anything Mr. Prose wrote is true or not. Given Mr. Prose’s body of work, especially recently, I’m leaning to “not.” I’m also not inclined to research comments made in a name-calling rant.

Mr. Prose wrote, “We’re told the mere mention of U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire and Mayor Antoline drew catcalls at last week’s Teabaggers Ball at the courthouse: Altmire for being a left-winger and Antoline for his MAIG ties. Other than Altmire not being a left-winger and Antoline not being anti-gun, those teabaggers have the facts straight. (Sigh.)”

First, note the aforementioned name-calling (“teabaggers”), consistent with the rest of the column. As a reminder, among the tamer definitions, Wikipedia defines tea bagging as “a slang term for the act of a man placing his scrotum in the mouth or on or around the face (including the top of the head) of another person.” Given Mr. Prose is a pundit/reporter, I’m not naïve enough to believe he doesn’t know this.

Second, I attended the tea party and didn’t hear anyone boo Mr. Altmire’s name simply “for being a left-winger.” When I heard Mr. Altmire’s name booed, it was in reference to his apparent position regarding healthcare/healthcare insurance. As for Mr. Antoline, I don’t recall him being mentioned at all, though it’s possible he was briefly mentioned and I didn’t hear it and/or I forgot.

Third, Mr. Prose claims Mr. Altmire isn’t “a left-winger.” While it’s fair to say Mr. Altmire isn’t House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), his cumulative Liberal Quotient from Americans for Democratic Action is 87.5% (95% in 2007 and 80% in 2008). Face it; we’re not talking about a Reagan Democrat. Let’s also keep in mind it appears to be Times editorial policy to portray Mr. Altmire (and Sen. Bob Casey) as a “centrist.” Of course, Mr. Prose can make his claim because the dictionary definitions of left-winger range from being on the extreme left to simply being on the left, which Democrats clearly are unless you’re Karl Marx. This is one of the reasons I avoid loaded terms like left-wing, right-wing, et cetera and tend to stick with generic terms like left and right.

Fourth, note the lack of a named source. This too is becoming a staple of Mr. Prose’s work as I mentioned in a previous critique.