| Most people associated with political campaigns tell me that newspaper endorsements are next to worthless. They don't translate into votes, because a newspaper's readers either already identify with the editorial page's leanings or think the editorial page stinks and aren't going to be moved by an endorsement. I think that's even more true now, and I question the ongoing decision by newspapers to waste their time. But, if you're going to do it, you ought to do it right, because they can either be thoughtful and engaging or just downright asinine. As an example of the latter, I give you the endorsement editorial by the Livingston County Press & Argus from a couple of years ago that issued a blanket endorsement of Republicans for the county commission without bothering to even name them. It was so silly, it was pulled down less than two days later and never replaced. If there was an award for shallow, partisan stupidity in an endorsement editorial -- call it The Golden Co-Bag -- this year it would probably go to today's Congressional endorsement editorial in the Detroit News. The editorial graciously offers that Dan Kildee ought to be elected in the 5th District, a race Kildee is going to in, anyway. Their Democrat nicely out of the way first, the paper goes about endorsing the Reindeer Man, The Teabaggin' Surgeon and then Lil' Fella, offering each a full paragraph of reasoning. Such as: ... Republican Kerry Bentivolio and Democrat Syed Taj lack experience and depth. So we are left to select the candidate who would vote as we'd prefer on the issues. That is Kerry Bentivolio , a retired school teacher who, in his interview with us, did not display the eccentricities or radical ideas he was accused of by his Republican primary opponent. ...
Well, you've always got a choice. You can choose to purposefully not endorse anyone, as the News did for president back in 2004. Instead, the News chose for Congress a part-time reindeer farmer with a Santa Claus fixation, and whose teaching history produced comparisons to Mr. Hand, and whose general conduct will continue Thad McCotter's rich tradition of making sure Livonia is represented in Congress by a borderline national laughingstock. Beyond that, the News believes that Benishek should be sent back to Congress because of his attentiveness, and that Lil' Fella deserves another term because he posts his votes to Facebook. |
