The newspaper of record in our nation’s capital urges its much-preferred political party to “trim your principles, Democrats, and pander away.”
This is a very different media watchdog role, where instead of calling out bad behavior, The Washington Post calls for it.
Sure, some of President Biden’s policies “clearly pander to core constituencies,” acknowledges the editorial board, adding: “The problem is that some of these policies are quite bad — even dangerous.”
For the record, the editors explain that they much prefer “the kind of pandering that is less obviously dangerous but still violates common sense
Well, on a ranking basis … but isn’t this all too rank?
Proselytizing for a lack of principle, the Post posits that these “means” of pandering to voters — i.e. buying their votes — are fully justified by “the end” of winning the election against former President
“The only thing worse than” Democracy [Dying] in Darkness (per the paper’s masthead) is, the editorial board
So, go ahead and delay again the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on menthol cigarettes, which, if implemented, would undoubtedly cost Mr. Biden the votes of many black men who make up the majority of that product’s customer base. Even though it is simply a trick of timing — for after the election, the Biden boys will be back to snuff out menthols.
Come’on, man! Who needs honesty, accountability, or fair media coverage when there’s an election to win?
Surprisingly, The New York Times’ executive editor Joe Kahn argues the paper should not become an “instrument of the Biden campaign,” not “stop covering those things” such as immigration and inflation “because they’re favorable to Trump,” and not “turn ourselves into Xinhua News Agency
He’s not wrong.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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3 replies on “Pander, Please”
During the Reagan Administration, left-wing cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer had a character (plainly expressing Feiffer’s own view) bemoan “The Republicans have the wrong principles, and the Democrats have none.”
Well, the Democrats actually do have the principle that they should rule, and most Republicans operate by the complementary principle that they should rule. A small minority of Republicans with often contrary principles make their party more generally look less self-serving. And, yes, many in that minority have the wrong principles, though Mr Feiffer and I would not agree about which of the principles were wrong.
Rôle-playing as if the Democrats have the moral high-ground has entailed ever greater absurdities. The Washington Post offers a formula that pandering is a necessary evil because the pandering is obvious and pandering is so obviously an evil.
Both parties do pander. It just depends upon which side you do the pandering. Myself, I don’t want anything the dependentocrats are selling.
The Washington Post and the New York Times — two of my least trusted news outlets. Even if Joe Kahn has the right message, what does it matter? He clearly has no influence over the content of the Times. The message may be a good one, but it’s also little more than a PR maneuver, given its timing and its source. Trust has been broken.