BCT Editorial – 10/2/06

This page was last updated on October 2, 2006.

Hypocrite; Editorial; Beaver County Times; October 2, 2006.

This is yet another example supporting my theory that the Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette share a common editorial “brain.” This is just another version of the PG editorial “Home alone” published only three days ago.

This is at least the third editorial on this subject during the last 15 months. The previous editorials were entitled “Nice loophole” and “Hmmm.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Even if U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s politics don’t bother you, his hypocrisy should. Just look at the latest bit of truth-parsing in regard to the house he owns in Penn Hills.”

[RWC] As I’ve written many times before, this is a bogus issue. Rather than repeat myself here, my critique of the PG editorial contains most of my comments regarding this editorial.

Note the use of “bother” when referring to Sen. Santorum’s politics. There’s a reason the editorial didn’t say, “Even if you don’t agree with U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s politics …” By implying Sen. Santorum’s politics should bother people, the Times is trying to lead us to believe there’s something dark and bad about Santorum’s positions.

“In a letter dated Sept. 18, Santorum asked Allegheny County to remove the homestead tax exemption from his Penn Hills property. The exemption is a property-tax break that can only be claimed on a primary residence.

“The Associated Press reported that Santorum, who lives most of the year in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., wrote that his Penn Hills home is his primary residence and that he qualifies for the exemption, but that he was voluntarily giving it up.

“How can he claim the Penn Hills house as his primary residence when he has admitted that he and his family spend little time there? How can he claim it as his primary residence when he has made a point of saying he has the home in Virginia so that he can spend more time with his wife and children?

“There’s another level to his hypocrisy that should not be overlooked. For a guy who likes to attack lawyers, even though he is one himself, he sure likes to use the law to his advantage.

“For instance, even though he does not live in Penn Hills, he tried to make property owners in that community pay for his children’s cyber-school education. (The senator might pay state and local taxes, but he and his family don’t really live there.) He did the same with the homestead exemption, just to save a measly $70 a year.”

[RWC] Yeah, I’m sure Sen. Santorum’s motivation was “just to save a measly $70 a year.” I think it’s more likely this is an example of transference on the part of the editorial author.

“People know a hypocrite when they see one, and Santorum is paying the price for being one. As Abraham Lincoln said, ‘If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.’”

[RWC] If you’ve read Times editorials for more than a week, you know the author has gall calling anyone a hypocrite. For example, the Times can write an editorial telling us terrorism is a legitimate concern, but it’s fear mongering when President Bush makes the same statement.