This page was last updated on March 18, 2010.
Political puritans; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 18, 2010.
The editorial is an example of “Do as I say, not as I do.” Via in-house pundit J.D. Prose, the Times alternates between dumping on U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-4) about healthcare and claiming Mr. Altmire is a “centrist.”
As for Sen. Graham, while he has an overall high ACU rating, he’s taken decidedly non-conservative positions on very important and high-profile issues over the last several years. Among those are closing Gitmo, amnesty for illegal aliens, and cap-and-tax (manmade global warming). Should Mr. Graham be demonized because of those positions? Of course not. At the same time, Mr. Graham should not be exempt from principled criticism.
So why would the Times “defend” someone like Mr. Graham? On the issues mentioned in the editorial, Mr. Graham and the Times mostly agree. That defense will be fleeting, however. For example, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was a “principled conservative” when it came to the McCain/Feingold law supported by the Times and when he eschewed conservative principles, but he was a right-wing extremist when he ran against the Times candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).
The editorial tells us, “Most aren’t conservatives and liberals, right- and left-wingers. To varying degrees, they’re moderates and centrists.” Before you get lured into accepting this assertion, keep in mind how the Times defines “moderates and centrists.” As I’ve noted before, previous Times editorials referred to congressmen with Americans for Democratic Action (self-described as “the nation’s most experienced organization committed to liberal politics, liberal policies, and a liberal future”) Liberal Quotients (ADA terminology) of 95% as “centrist,” et cetera. According to a June 2009 Gallup poll, “40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004. The 21% calling themselves liberal is in line with findings throughout this decade, but is up from the 1990s.”
Finally, I never cease getting a kick out of the Times referring to “infotainment channels.” The top banner of the Times homepage says “News, Sports and Entertainment for Beaver County.” Doesn’t that make the Times an “infotainment” publication?
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