Newspaper Off Kool-Aid For a Day

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After reading the Gazette’s thumbs up/down editorial on Monday, I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself. I then threw a bucket of water out my window to see if it would flow up or splash down. I looked into the sky with binoculars to see if any pigs were flying. To my dismay, everything seemed…. normal. Still puzzled, I had to read this excerpt….again. I couldn’t believe it.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
Two area Republicans, Sen. Neal Kedzie of Elkhorn and Rep. Brett Davis of Oregon, scored poorly in a new ranking by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign related to legislation that would help put state government back in control of ordinary citizens rather than special interests.

If you happen to be surfing the Web and stumble in here, you won’t know or care anything about this, but this was startling news.
I can’t recall EVER when our town's daily newspaper, the Janesville Gazette, called out by name two of their three most beloved local politicians, both Republicans, and gave them a thumbs down AND mentioned the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign without a lefty connotation attached, all in the same sentence. I had to catch my breathe. But it got even better.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
In contrast, three Democrats, Sen. Judy Robson of Beloit and Rep. Mike Sheridan of Janesville and Chuck Benedict of Beloit, scored much higher.

What the…#?!...to scold Republicans while simultaneously writing up Dems without disparaging remarks just doesn’t happen. Not in this newspaper.

Unbelievable! Informing the reader with this additional information all in the same draft is unheard of around here. This has to be the very first time in the new millennium this particular newspaper fairly editorialized about Democrats without tying in a political gimme somewhere.

However, I’m certainly not convinced the paper has shed their partisan ways with one little fair and balanced perspective. Instead, they could have presented this brief commentary as a positive thumbs up for the democrats. But I'll take what I can get here. This is a gift horse. Nevertheless, this must have been very difficult if not painful for them. It reminded me of a baby’s first steps, so I have to give them a smidgen of credit on this one. What will we do with this information overload?

But it wouldn’t come as a surprise if they prove me all wrong tomorrow.