Sunday, October 21, 2007

N&O’s Stark Editorial Silence

On April 10, 2005 the liberal/leftist Raleigh News & Observer ran an editorial titled "Judges Under Fire." Here’s part of it:

[Senate leader Bill Frist] has drawn a line between himself and firebrands such as Rep. Tom DeLay, the GOP leader in the House, and DeLay's fellow Texan, Sen. John Cornyn. They have talked in terms of retribution, or unspecified kinds of judicial accountability, after federal judges at three levels chose against intervening in the Terri Schiavo case. …

Cornyn, who once sat on the Texas Supreme Court, went so far as to wonder aloud if recent court-related violence could be connected to the public's frustration with a judiciary that is not sufficiently accountable. …
The N&O, without ever quoting anything Cornyn and DeLay actually said, went on to call their statements “inflammatory” and again remind readers of violence directed at judges.

The editorial ended by castigating the two Republicans for “raining fire and brimstone on judicial independence.” According to the N&O, the “anti-judge rhetoric” was “damaging to the American justice system.”

I thought when I read the editorial that it was motivated by the N&O’s intense Democratic partisanship. I hadn’t read anything Cornyn and DeLay had said that could fairly be linked to recent killings of judges.

Everything each man had said was well within the bounds of what’s tradionally been accepted as part of our public discourse.

Cornyn and DeLay did talk about and encourage citizens to vote for or against a judge based on how they felt about h/her record.

But that doesn’t damage “the American justice system;” it affirms it.

The N&O itself at each judicial election picks and chooses among judicial candidates. It criticizes the careers and decisions of many of them; and urges readers to vote against some while voting for those on the N&O’s “approved” list.

Then the N&O turns around and attacks Republicans for doing the same thing.

That kind of double standard is just what many, me included, have come to expect from the Democratic N&O.

So I guess I should have expected that when Democratic House member Pete Stark said on the House floor,
"You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement,"
that the N&O would say nothing critical of him.

Afterall, President Bush is a Republican. Democrats routinely equate him to Hitler. That being the case, I guess the N&O editors could read what Stark said and decide it was nothing more than mainstream Democratic rhetoric.

Still, I’d hoped, given the inflammatory nature of Stark’s attack and the high degree of threat to his life every President faces, that the N&O would put aside its partisanship and say something critical of Stark.

But it hasn’t so far.

Does that surprise any of you, especially Democrats, reading this?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

IMO, this is the most unbelievable conspiracy since Whitewater. I am so glad to see true journalists not fearing exposing the TRUTH. Our government has perpetually lied to the public, and by neglecting the thousands of requests for Federal Intervention has fallen on deaf ears, and further proves to the citizens that we cannot trust our elected officials. This is a dangerous concept. Slowly our rights are being chipped away. Does anybody really care?

The message they are sending is one of being "Untouchable." This is not the nation my father and ancestors fought and died for. They did not risk their lives to salute an American flag made in a communist country. These men went by blind faith into wars to give us the rights we should have today. This is not the USA I want to live in. It has become a police state, and is only getting worse. When we shout for reform, they call us crazy and heretics. When confronted with absolute proof, they morph it into psychological contortions.

I never would have imagined our countries leaders to be so foul. I have completely lost faith in our system. Numerous governmental agencies have the time to monitor blog sites, but do not have "our" best interests at heart. They have no hearts. Their fuel is deceit and division. I commend those of us who are not "afraid" to use our real identities. Staying anonymous shows fear that people are frightened of "repercussions?!"

These are truly dark days. I am ashamed of our leaders, and pray now only for "DIVINE" intervention, in God I can trust, in people I cannot. Oh, what a world indeed.

Rhonda Fleming
Cleveland, Ohio
Still fighting for justice for my murdered brother,
and all of the families Durham NC have neglected

Anonymous said...

Calling the N&O left-leaning confirms that you are an idiot. Do you know anything at all about the Daniels Family?

mike said...

John,

I posted this letter to the N&O. I'm sure they won't print it. (see the ed. on "Notable Numbers"

As regards you Sunday editorial, "Notable Numbers", I have a few of my own:

3: The number of days that Ms. Sill has not answered my question about where Anne Blythe (see "Pressler files new lawsuit against Duke", Oct 13, 2007) received her information about the suit when Ms. Sill has stated that the paper did not get a copy of the suit until Monday, October 15, 2007.

3: The number of days that the N&O has failed to condemn Rep. Pete Stark's outrageous comments on the floor of the House, yet continues to demonize the President for his veto.

554: The number of days the N&O has not apologized for, or admitted that their story on the "wall of solidarity" (Duke Lax players) was a hoax and that the paper knew at the time that the players had cooperated with the police.

365+: The number of days that the N&O has been publishing fact-challenged and in some cases totally inaccurate editorials.

60: Just a guess, but probably the number of days it will take for S&P to send McClatchy Co. into junk bond territory. Could the state of the N&O have anything to do with this?

Anonymous said...

Thanks John.

I'm going to call the N&O tomorrow.

I doubt it will do any good.

But you have to do something.