[Vision2020] Feeling the need to be patronized?

Garrett Clevenger garrettmc at frontier.com
Sun Oct 31 21:39:21 PDT 2010


Great message, Saundra. You hit it spot on.

Not all voters vote party line. Some of us are interested in candidates' positions and world-view. 

If a candidate lets others define them, as seems to be the case with Bouma, then those wanting to be objective are left wodering why Bouma doesn't respond and clarify himself.

It's easy to talk with those who agree with you, but one should be running to represent a broader constituency.

I was willing to give Bouma a chance, particularly because it's reported he's an organic farmer (as am I though not certified organic)

The fact that Bouma and Young dissed KRFP and those who would like to call in and ask them questions indicates they don't care about these voters or about clarifying themselves to the same people who Bouma and Young think are against them.

KRFP performs a vital service during the campaign. Anybody can call in and ask questions when the candidates are on the air. Plus the forums are archived so anyone can listen online at their leisure.

These forums are not propaganda. The station is not biased towards one candidate or other. It's just another way for candidates to get their message out.

KRFP is just like any media outlet.  It's a shame Rozen belittles them. It seems solidarity among media would help strengthen the media.

KRFP is less dogmatic then most churches. At least they aren't pulling down controversial sermons from their website. It also is mostly music.

On the other hand, the NSA forum apparently only took questions from NSAers.

At the NSA forum, Dan Schmidt had the confidence to express his belief in natural selection, which probably goes against the grain of thought at NSA and risking losing votes.

Big difference between Schmidt and Bouma, the later who failed to define himself outside of the postcard.  

Since what is preached at his church may not be much different then what's portrayed on the postcard, Bouma lost an opportunity to convince someone like me that he is any different then how the postcard defines him.

It's a shame because it's more of the elitist attitude of "I don't need that station or those votes, anyway" then Bouma's actual religious affiliation that's more bothersome for me...

Garrett Clevenger


>>

Saundra Lund v2020 at ssl.fastmail.fm 
Sun Oct 31 12:18:26 PDT 2010
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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!



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