J.D. Prose – 5/12/13

This page was last updated on May 13, 2013.

Really? Segment of Democrats think Corbett is doing ‘excellent’ job; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; May 12, 2013.

In the print edition, this column appeared in the op-ed section labeled “ON THE LEFT.” Given Mr. Prose’s body of work and the BCT’s left-leaning positions, did the BCT really think readers didn’t know he’s a “Surly progressive?”

According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.” As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time 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? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) 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.

You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.

Below is a critique of portions of this column.

“We know we write a lot about Gov. Tom Corbett’s woes, but we just can’t help it. It’s fun and easy, like a never-ending water slide made of beer. Wheeee!!!!

“Last week’s bad news for the Guv’nah came in the form of a Franklin & Marshall College poll that found 58 percent of registered voters in Pennsylvania think the state is ‘on the wrong track.’ We’d prefer to say the state is off the tracks and plummeting down a cliff into a bottomless hole where not even the screams of tormented souls escape, but ‘wrong’ will just have to do for now.

“F&M also determined that only 25 percent of voters -- that’s one in four if you’re math-phobic like us -- says Corbett deserves to be re-elected. Hmmm. We’re not a ‘political expert,’ but the last time we checked most candidates need more than 25 percent of the vote to win a two-way race.

“It’s no surprise that 39 percent of Republicans think Corbett’s job performance is ‘excellent’ or ‘good.’ More Kool-Aid, please! No, the shock is that 11 percent of Democrats rated Corbett that high.

“Really?!? So there’s a segment of Democrats out there who appreciate devastating cuts to education and social services, and love corporate tax breaks and handouts while the middle class is slowly ground to a pulp?”

[RWC] In case you’re wondering why Mr. Prose didn’t provide any data to support his claims, here’s the likely reason when comparing the current budget of $63.3 billion (2012-2013) with then-Gov. Rendell’s final budget of $66.4 billion (2010-2011). The “devastating cuts” amount to 4.7% of the total budget. The portions of the budgets dedicated to “education and social services” were 79.2% and 79.8%, respectively. For “PreK-12 Education” and “Medical Assistance/Long-Term Living,” their portions of the budget are marginally higher in the current budget than in the final Rendell budget.

As for “corporate tax breaks and handouts,” the portions of tax revenue provided by so-called business taxes were 14.3% and 15.2%, respectively. If that’s not enough, please read “Location Matters: A Comparative Analysis of State Costs on Business” by the Tax Foundation (a reference used by the BCT). For “Mature Firms,” Pennsylvania ranks 50th (worst). PA did “better” with “New Firms,” ranking 49th. If Mr. Prose is going to make up stuff, he needs to do a better job of picking stuff that can’t be easily proven false.

Note: Most (all?) leftsters like Mr. Prose use “corporation” as a synonym for “business,” though I’m sure they would disagree in public. As with all leftyspeak, it allows lefties to mislead people by saying one thing (big, evil company) but meaning another [all businesses (except labor unions), whether big or “mom & pop”]. FYI, a Pennsylvania corporation can be as small as one person.

“If you’re part of this demographic you might want to rethink your political philosophy and party affiliation. Just sayin’…”

[RWC] You have to love it. A supporter and activist for a political ideology that’s never worked in the history of man encourages others “to rethink their political philosophy and party affiliation.”

What didn’t make Mr. Prose’s column?

First, Mr. Prose has been dutifully silent regarding the Benghazi scandal since his column of September 15, 2012, entitled “No doubt about it now, Mitt Romney has no shame.” Now that the mainstream media is finally getting interested in the story, it will be interesting to see Mr. Prose’s reaction.

Second, Mr. Prose didn’t mention the IRS last week confessed it gave “special treatment” to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Until that confession, the IRS consistently denied the charge, even in testimony before Congress. According to The New York Times, Lois Lerner (an IRS official) “insisted that the move was not driven by politics.” Sure.