Let's see...Newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer are complaining that they are losing readership. Philadelphia is an overwhelmingly Democratic city. And yet, here is the announcement from the Philadelphia Inquirer, as reported by Editor & Publisher.
The excerpt:
Former Sen. Rick Santorum Gets 'Philadelphia Inquirer' ColumnBy E&P Staff
Published: October 24, 2007 12:05 PM ET
NEW YORK A press conference will be held at 1:30 this afternoon at the Philadelphia Inquirer to announce that it has added former Sen. Rick Santorum to its stable of columnists.
Santorum, you may recall, isn't even from Philadelphia. He was from Western Pennsylvania (I say "was" and not "is" because he actually moved to a wealthy Virginia suburb). But beyond that, you may recall, as Editor & Publisher did, that Santorum "was soundly defeated in his race for re-election last year." In fact, he received just 16 percent of the vote in Philadelphia County - the state's most populous county and the county that is the Inquirer's customer base.
So how can a newspaper like the Philadelphia Inquirer complain about losing readership when, in a major Democratic city, it is providing news analysis from a right-wing Republican who was soundly rejected by voters, who isn't even originally from Philadelphia, and who actually decided to move out of Pennsylvania while representing the state in the U.S. Senate?
Hell, I, like Santorum, used to live in Pennsylvania. And actually, I actually used to live in the city of Philadelphia. I also am a progressive and a Democrat, which is what Philadelphia is. I wonder why the Inquirer has decided to publish Santorum as a columnist, but isn't running my nationally syndicated column?
All kidding aside, this isn't, of course, about me (though the comparison, I think, is appropriate). It is about media bias. It shows just how far out of the way some newspaper owners will go to overrepresent conservative voices in the media. And yet, somehow, conservatives still claim the media is liberal.
Wouldn't this guy be more appropriately placed in a McDonald's drive-thru window?
Want fries with that?
THe local "daily" has this line-up of columnists: Dan Walters, conservative that writes on state issues; Leonard Pitts, token black and moderate; David Brooks, log cabin lackey from WSJ; Cal Thomas, evangical nutcase; Victor David Hansen, toady from Stanford/ Hoover Institute; Dan Weintraub, another state middle-of-roader; Ellen Goodman, womens' issues moderate; Kathleen Parker, rubber stamp Repuke.
What a bunch of horse hockey!
I also know that they censor the letters to the editor, as I have never had one published, yet have submitted perhaps a dozen in a two year time frame. Even then, the liberal LTO's outnumber the freaky conservatives by about four to one.
The reality is that most everyone I converse with about this realize that the editorial section is garbage. They continue to get the paper for local coverage, and that's all. They get their news and opinion from the internet.
Seriously ------ he is one stupid sonuvabitch.
That's the biggest reason we here in Pennsylvania WIPED him off...
PA Firefighter
"Cogito, ergo Liberal!"
I'm afraid the Inquirer may actually be hiring Santorum to bring a more moderate, civil tone to the Paper, in light of the recent ranting of Inquirer columnist Stu Bykofsy. Bykofsky believes (and I'm sure Santorum would agree) that this country "needs another 9/11" because we've become too disunified (privately, Bykofsky and Santorum probably use the term "dissident") as we've foolishly allowed our original post-9/11 panic to subside.
So glad we now have a second genius writing a regular column for the Inquirer, because when it's just one voice saying such absurd things, it comes across as, well, absurd; but with two ... well, now maybe Philadelphians will start to take this kind of crap seriously.
This a great opportunity for the Repubs to go after Sestak and Patrick Murphy. In general, it is timed right for the election year. But if Santorum takes swipes at candidates in Delaware and Chester County, he isn't going to get a good response.
If he starts on Street and city government, he had best still be living in Virginia.
Those radical far left looney libs at the Inquirer made Santorum a columnist just so people could read his columns and ridicule him for being such a moron, thus denigrating all right thinking conservatives by association. A devilish plot indeed.