BCT Editorial – 3/16/06

This page was last updated on March 16, 2006.

Wise move; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 16, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Democrats might have finally caught on to their self-destructive ways when it comes to U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

“Just days after she mused about possibly running as an independent in the year’s senatorial race, abortion-rights activist Kate Michelman announced she has decided against doing so.

“The clear beneficiary is state Treasurer Robert P. Casey, the anti-abortion Democrat who is widely favored to win his party’s primary election and challenge Santorum in November.

“Democrats might finally be starting to look at the whole candidate and not focus on one specific litmus test at election time. In that light, Casey is a liberal-to-moderate on many economic and labor issues and moderate-to-conservative on many social issues. And he’s certainly more firmly planted in the mainstream than the much-more ideological Santorum.

“The next step will be to see if pro-choice Democrats will support Casey financially and on Election Day, or whether they will shut their wallets as they did to another pro-life Democrat, former U.S. Rep Ron Klink, when he challenged Santorum in 2000.”

[RWC] In addition to Times support for nearly all things liberal, the editorial put the paper’s liberal bias on display in its language.

You’ll note the editorial referred to people who oppose abortion as “anti-abortion” while referring to the pro-abortion camp as “pro-choice.” To be consistent, the editorial should have used “anti-abortion” and “pro-abortion” or “pro-life” and “pro-choice.” I’m giving the Times a lot of leeway because the term “pro-choice” is about anything but choice.