Newspaper Scolds Democrat With Endorsement

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After endorsing Hahn, Towns and Davis (all Republicans) for state legislative offices, the Janesville Gazette on Friday issued a scolding yet pandering endorsement for incumbent Democrat Rep. Tami Baldwin. Just two years ago, they endorsed Dave Magnum over Rep. Baldwin citing a congressional ranking system as a centerpiece for their decision.

Two years ago, Baldwin ranked 394th with the congressional power ranking system. At the time the newspaper insisted she can’t use the democratic party’s congressional minority status as an excuse for her low ranking. The newspaper pulled the same thing on Sen. Russ Feingold in 2006, bringing up his low power ranking in the GOP-majority Congress as a good enough reason to slam his performance.

Well things have changed quite a bit since then, Baldwin is now ranked 44th and since we can’t use party majority status to justify congressional rankings (according to the Gazette), what does the Gazette have to say about her rapid rise in Congress?

JG Editorial Endorsement:
Baldwin, 45, has been around long enough to be more of a force in Congress……….
We’ll give her another two years. But she must make them count.

Climbing from 394 to 44 in just two years using the same criteria the Gazette used against her in the past – and that’s the best they can say?

But if I were running for elective office and had the unfortunate luck to receive the kind of scolding she got on the GM plant from the Janesville Gazette, I would publicly rebuke it and ask the owner and the editorial staff to explain why they published all of those disparaging remarks in their anonymous Sound Off column against the GM plant and union workers for all of those years. I would ask what good did they expect to come from it and how it advanced economic harmony and public discourse for the common good of the community. I would then tell them to save their precious ink and insulting support for when their kind of candidate comes along, one who deserves it - a Republican.

Today, their kind of candidate came along in the form of Paul Ryan and the Gazette issued their standard warm and fuzzy endorsement for the Republican. In it, the Gazette makes a case for the congressman explaining that his legislative rescue of the Bush Administration's $700 billion Wall Street Bail-Out should convince voters to ignore his 7 1/2 years of rubber stamping Bush Administration initiatives. The Gazette is convinced, "Washington needs more like Ryan."

Note: This posting is not in cooperation with any candidate or party and is the independent work and opinion of its author.