[Vision2020] Feeling the need to be patronized?

[Ted Moffett]

Saundra Lund <v2020 at ssl.fastmail.fm> wrote:

Finally, for anyone who managed to read all the way through this,
you’ve earned a gold star and my gratitude for your tolerance of my
long-windedness!

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

-----------------------------------------
Given the often sound bite stereotyped trivialized polarized nature of
political discussions, "long-windedness" can be a pleasant lingering
tropical breeze...  I wonder why there is not less "tolerance" of
brief simple minded political discussions.  I guess this tactic
controls more effectively people's emotions without time for critical
thought, in the algorithims of advertising psychology conditioning,
aimed at the success of political marketing strategy.

------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On 10/31/10, Saundra Lund <v2020 at ssl.fastmail.fm> wrote:

> I've appreciated reading everyone's comments, and I'm glad this topic came
> up here on the Viz!  As a new Daily News re-subscriber (I originally
> subscribed in 1988), I'm grateful for the opportunity to add my comments.
>
> First, I want to thank the Daily News editorial staff for reminding me that
> the GOP's Bill Goesling was also a no show for his scheduled KRFP.  I
> noticed it at the time, but Pollyanna that I am, I was willing to accept his
> excuse at face value.  Mind you, I didn't think it boded well that someone
> who thought himself responsible enough to serve as county commissioner
> lacked basic organizational skills to keep his scheduling straight.
>
> In my mind, Goesling's no show was in a different category than the
> subsequent lily livered no shows of wannabes Bouma & Young.  After reading
> Rozen's editorial, however, I'm grateful to have my recollection refreshed
> in advance of Election Day, and with plenty of time to remind others that
> for whatever reason (likely poor turnout by moderate GOP primary voters),
> the GOP wound up with a slate of candidates who lack the backbone to face -
> even remotely over the air waves -- constituents they hope to represent.
>
> Honestly, only those completely blinded by partisanship would knowingly vote
> for those who think it appropriate to run & hide from their potential
> constituents unless the alternative was someone like a convicted felon,
> don't you think?  I mean, we sometimes see those antics from our elected
> officials after they're in office, but to see such reprehensible behavior
> from local candidates before the election?  No.  The Latah County GOP has
> clearly failed the community this go-round by propping up candidates that
> don't deserve to be elected officials, and I thank the Daily News editorial
> for helping us to connect those dots, however belatedly.
>
> Second, my take on Rozen's editorial was a little different than most:  I
> read it as a somewhat classic -- albeit lame --  attempt to gloss over
> missing the real story, which is that 3/5s of the GOP candidates chickened
> out of their previously scheduled KRFP time with their Democrat opponents.
>
> In other markets with competent print journalism, news media rightly covers
> candidate debates.  Here?  Not so much, or we'd have read about the GOP's
> pattern of no-shows/last minute cancellations in a NEWS story rather than in
> an editorial.  It's NEWS when 3/5s of the scheduled GOP candidates back out
> of their commitments to answer questions from voters, and I viewed Rozen's
> pathetic dig at KRFP & its listeners really a nothing more than a shameful
> mean-spirited smoke & mirrors ploy.
>
> Further, if we had competent print journalism in our community newspaper, an
> on-the-ball editor likely would have directed reporters, it seems to me, to
> tie this pattern by local Republican Tea Party candidates into the national
> pattern of Tea Party candidates shunning not only their potential
> constituents, but also running away - in some cases, literally - from
> journalists attempting to get answers to perfectly legitimate questions.
> That yellow-bellied "campaign strategy" is NEWS when it happens nationally,
> and it's NEWS when it happens locally.  Voters deserve to know if those
> wanting our votes are really only interested in preaching to the choir or do
> they have what it takes to represent a diverse constituency.  With Bouma and
> Young - and perhaps with Goesling - it's obviously the former.
>
> Third, if the shoe had been on the other foot - had Democrats bailed at the
> last minute on scheduled forums or debates sponsored by New St. Andrews or
> the GMA or some venue where the candidates perceived that the audience might
> ask hard-hitting questions or thought the audience might be too small to
> bother with - I suspect we'd see a double-standard at work, as we've
> historically seen with the Daily News in recent years.  Dems no-showing
> would have been a NEWS story.  Had an editorial been written, the tone would
> have rightly taken the no-showers to task rather than shooting the
> messengers.  It's even likely those offended would have been offered a guest
> editorial PDQ to run immediately and definitely before the election.
>
> Fourth, the Daily News' Rozen wrote:
>
> "They give us voters some very clear choices. It is quite obvious in Bouma's
> race against Dan Schmidt and in Young's race against Ringo who is the
> conservative and who is the liberal."
>
> Ouch!  Coming from a family with deep conservative roots, it's insulting
> that the Daily News apparently can't tell the difference between genuine
> conservatism and the reactionary theocracy-leaning extremism of Bouma &
> Young.  If you want to use quick & dirty labels, please take care to use
> them correctly, which wasn't done in this editorial.  There is a clear
> difference between Schmidt & Bouma, and Ringo & Young, but it's not one that
> can accurately be characterized as a different between liberal &
> conservative.
>
> Fifth, Rozen also wrote:
>
> "Let's face it, by this week many, if not most, of us have already voted or,
> at least, pretty well made up our mind on who gets our black oval."
>
> While the second half of that sentence isn't completely inaccurate, the
> first half is, which shows little understanding of the Latah County
> electorate.  While I don't think many -- other than those wingnuts who
> imagine virtually non-existent voter fraud in Idaho under every pebble --
> object to having choices about where, when, and how to vote, Latah County
> residents who vote do so overwhelmingly (somewhere in the 80-91+/- % range)
> in person and on Election Day.  While that local reality seems to have
> escaped Rozen & his editorial team, this is why candidate forums are
> scheduled throughout the silly season and not just weeks in advance.  The
> scheduling, it seems to me, is particularly crucial in markets like this
> when journalists do such an anemic reporting job, generally speaking, and
> routinely miss important local stories.
>
> Further, current knowledge indicates that early voters tend to be the most
> partisan and also older as a whole.  Thus, bailing out on candidate forums
> closer to the election is a real disservice not only to those who worked to
> make them happen, but also to younger and more moderate voters wanting to
> vote with the most recent knowledge possible, and thus, to our communities
> as a whole.  It's too bad Rozen's editorial completely overlooked this
> significant disservice to more moderate and to younger voters by the
> majority of the local GOP candidates by missing the forest for the trees.
>
> Finally, for anyone who managed to read all the way through this, you've
> earned a gold star and my gratitude for your tolerance of my
> long-windedness!
>
> Saundra Lund
>
> Moscow, ID
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
> nothing.
>
> ~ Edmund Burke
>
> ***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2010 through life plus
> 70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
> the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
> author.*****
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
> On Behalf Of Sue Hovey
> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 9:38 AM
> To: Joe Campbell; Rosemary
> Cc: Moscow Vision 2020; alford at dnews.com; mcbride at lmtribune.com;
> lrozen at dnews.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Feeling the need to be patronized?
>
> As one of the "chattering class to the left of center,"  it's quite a
> stretch the editor would interpret our concerns over the Republican no-shows
> as, "the end of democracy in Latah County."  I don't believe that, and
>
> certainly it was never even implied--that's the editor's take.    Mr.
>
> Rozen's spin over our conversation is silly on the one hand and patronizing
> on the other.  There was a concern, one we thought the paper might want to
> address, the conversation was friendly, and I thought the editor was going
> to mull it over and respond or not.  That was fine.  The point was made. The
> resulting editorial leads me to believe that somewhere along the line Mr.
>
> Rozen matriculated from the Spiro Agnew, "natttering nabobs of negativism,"
>
> school of journalism.
>
> Sue Hovey
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Joe Campbell
>
> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 8:25 AM
>
> To: Rosemary
>
> Cc: Moscow Vision 2020 ; alford at dnews.com ; mcbride at lmtribune.com ;
> lrozen at dnews.com
>
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Feeling the need to be patronized?
>
> I'm with you Rose. I heard the DN had changed its tune and decided to renew
> my subscription -- a month ago and they still have not delivered a paper!
> What's worse than a news paper that serves a single party?
>
> One that insults folks from the other party! A summary of Mr. Rozen's
>
> argument: "Progressives don't need to be able to ask questions of
> politicians who might serve them because the public has already made up its
> mind!" What if the progressive candidates stood up NSA? That would be
> uncalled for! Said to live in a town where folks running for state office
> feel OK about insulting you and the local paper supports them and that
> snotty, elitist attitude.
>
> Please cancel my subscription, DN -- the one that you failed to renew in
> time for the election.
>
> On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 6:25 AM, Rosemary <
> <mailto:donaldrose at cpcinternet.com> donaldrose at cpcinternet.com>
>
> wrote:
>
>> I had great hopes that under a new editor the Daily News would move
>
>> beyond their sycophantic affection for make believe colleges, bearded
>
>> men, and right-wing political loonies.  I was within millimeters of
>
>> re-subscribing,  Luckily I decided to wait until the election season
>
>> was over before offering financial support to a news organization
>
>> that has been so disappointing in recent years. After reading the
>
>> editorial in the DN this morning I'm glad I waited.  Jackassery is
>
>> alive and well on Jackson Street.
>
>> And, I'm not willing to pay for the privilege of being patronized by
>
>> the new kid on the block.
>
>> Rose Huskey