J.D. Prose – 7/21/13

This page was last updated on July 23, 2013.

Time and apathy send DemCRO to the grave; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; July 21, 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.

“CLOWNING AROUND

“Tired of all the bad news about Gov. Tom Corbett. Sorry, we’ve got more. Last week was an avalanche of stories about GOP insiders (anonymously) pondering potential replacements if Corbett is pushed aside for re-election in 2014, sky-is-falling analysis about Corbett staff changes, including the departure of his chief of staff, and the news that the state Supreme Court put the brakes on Corbett’s plan to close state health centers.

“Oh, and the Guv’nah made yet another appearance on a ‘worst’ list, this one put together by the non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Yeah, we know, but they can dream, can’t they?”

[RWC] CREW is “non-partisan?” Since when? CREW was founded by leftists and is funded and run by leftists. According to the Billings Gazette, “‘We [CREW] are progressive,’ said Naomi Seligman, the group’s deputy director and a former spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. ‘We do work within a larger progressive infrastructure.’ Seligman suggested her group is the progressive counterweight to Judicial Watch, a group from the right that calls itself ‘a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to fighting government corruption.’” At least as recently as 2005, CREW’s “Web site bill[ed] itself as ‘a non-profit, progressive legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable.’” To promote the idea of being “non-partisan,” CREW will throw a Democrat under the bus when their behavior is so egregious it can’t be defended.

Does Mr. Prose know all this and more about CREW? Yes. I guess if you refer to yourself as a “Surly progressive,” other “progressives” appear “non-partisan.”

“Anyway, in a circus-themed report featuring governor’s labeled ‘ringmasters,’ ‘clowns’ and ‘sideshows’ depending on their varying degrees of ineptitude, Corbett was a ‘clown’ along with Arizona’s Jan Brewer and South Carolina’s Nikki Haley. That’s some pretty good company.

“CREW (citizensforethics.org) highlighted Corbett’s penchant for accepting gifts ‘from executives, lobbyists, law firms’ and others who ‘had business interests before the state.’ If that was all he did, we could probably live with it.

“Alas, CREW also delved into questions about Corbett’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky/Penn State child-rape scandal and voter disenfranchisement through the Voter ID law, which, if you missed it, state GOP chairman Rob Gleason admitted ‘helped a bit’ in shaving President Barack Obama’s victory margin over Mittens by 5 percent.”

[RWC] Mr. Prose – and apparently Mr. Gleason – failed to note one little point. The new PA voter ID law was not in effect for the 2012 election.

“We’ve always said the only thing missing from Harrisburg were the circus tents. Sadly, the rest of America is coming to the same conclusion.

“Don’t despair, though, our Republican friends. The state gained 19,000 jobs in June ... but the unemployment rate remained at 7.5 percent.

“Hmmm.... 19,000. Why’s that sound familiar? Oh, yeah. It’s also the estimated number of education jobs lost in the state under Corbett’s slash-and-burn education funding policies. On second thought, GOPers, you might want to start despairing.”

[RWC] “Corbett’s slash-and-burn education funding policies?” Mr. Prose has been making similar claims since Mr. Corbett took office in January 2011. You can find some examples here, here, and here. If you check the budget enacted for fiscal year 2013-2014, you find the Education budget increased by $272 million (2.6%).