This Week's Rebuttal to Sylvia Smith

I know it sounds like a vendetta. But its not. Its just a counter-opinion because there isn't one employed by the newspapers except Kevin Leininger (and they won't let him respond). Here is the link to the story Republicans tired of defending Bush.

Here are some exerpts from her piece.

"The American public consistently has given the GOP high marks for “keeping the country safe,” yet here was a decision that clearly freaked out people of all political persuasions and called into question the judgment of an administration that made it. It was a goodie basket of immense proportions."

I'll give her that one. The White House didn't respond in a way to resolve those fears.

"The politically interesting thing, from my perch, is this GOP reaction. The willingness – even eagerness – of members of Congress to criticize the head of their party suggests several things, all of which come down to using the port issue as a way to distance themselves from a president whose approval rating is in the low 40s."

She starts to show which side of the fence she perches from. She feels that it is a political weakness to criticize those of your own party. Republicans feel it is part of their strength and duty to criticize an issue when they feel it needs it no matter the party. Democrats tend to vote the party line. Just look at the votes on Capital Hill. You will see a Republican vote against a his/ her party's bill more than do the Democrats.

"Part of the Republican reaction is a natural frustration at being linked to bone-headed decisions, actions that invite derision or policies that infuriate the conservative base: Vice President Cheney’s hunting caper."

This is more evidence that she lacks objectivity in her reporting. Choice of words speaks volumes. Not to mention 57% of Americans feel that VP Cheney's hunting accident was a non-issue unworthy of the coverage received by the media.

The show has been fascinating to watch. But perhaps when the political hoopla calms, members of Congress might want to turn their attention away from the angst over “selling” U.S. ports to a foreign country and focus instead on a far riskier situation: the security gaps terrorists can penetrate. Much remains to be done on controlling what goes into shipping containers in overseas ports, getting more complete information about what’s in the containers, limiting who has access to the maritime facilities and establishing security standards for ports.

Again, I'll give her that one.

In the end she had some good points on the port deal and Homeland Security issues in general. However, I think that she is overzealous to criticize Republicans but is unwilling to give the same criticism to Democrats. It is things like this that have contributed the downward slide of the Fort Wayne newspapers readership and print media in general.