Daily Astorian calls out the Oregonian

The Daily Astorian newspaper has called out the Oregonian's ridiculous fawning over Gordon Smith:

The Oregonian is a cheap date

Portland daily’s editors gush at Gordon Smith’s second conversion

To summon a phrase from college days, the men and women who write editorials at The Oregonian are a cheap date when it comes to Sen. Gordon Smith. All that Oregon's junior U.S. senator had to do was proclaim that global warming was real and the O's editorial writers blushed and gushed approval of their favorite prodigal son. ...

The Oregonian seems to be treating Smith and his conversion on global warming like Affirmative Action. You must also remember Smith's conversion on the Iraq War, at 10 p.m. on the last night of a Congress....

[H]ow much courage or intelligence does it take to contradict the GOP Neanderthals who are grudgingly admitting to the climate crisis?

Smith's conversion is of no use in the waning days of a failed administration. His voice might have been helpful five years ago when the Bush administration was systematically silencing government scientists who dared suggest we have a problem.

The Oregonian, and Oregon, shouldn't be so easily impressed. Sen. Smith needs to decide what role he wants to play in the next Congress. We need a leader who is ahead of events, not an odds-maker who shows up at the last minute to save his political skin.

Discuss.

  • George Seldes (unverified)
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    Oh, snap! Man, I just died and went to heaven for a minute there. We were discussing that inane Oregonian BJ for Gordo today at work -- just another in a LOOOOOOOOONG series for them.

  • joel dan walls (unverified)
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    You mean he isn't Mark Hatfield in disguise? Shocked, shocked.

  • Bill Bodden (unverified)
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    What a surprise!!! The Oregonian is supporting Gordon Smith. Who would have thought that? Meanwhile it looks like we will all have to hang in anxious suspense to learn who the Oregonian will endorse for president.

  • Unrepentant Liberal (unverified)
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    Senator 'Salmon-killer' looked at the electoral clock and noticed it was time time put on his 'moderate' blazer for the fall election and the Oregonian thought it looked just fabulous! What a bunch of wankers!

  • Bill Bodden (unverified)
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    I checked the Oregonian on-line and couldn't find anything about Dennis Kucinich's 35-point articles of impeachment against Bush presented to the House last night. The mainstream media appear to have ignored this. The points made by Kucinich appear to be perfectly valid. What does that say about the media and the American people?

  • Eric Parker (unverified)
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    Well now....and those wonderful and annoying people at the O wonder why I don't subscribe to have their paper delivered to my humble abode. I have told them why, many times, but they just don't listen like they should and end up chastising (sp) me in the end.

    Oh well :)

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    Ah, gotta love the Oregonian.

    The Daily Astorian has it right: enough of the fawning over Smith for putting on his moderate mask and talking a good game. Show it to us when it counts, Gordon! ANWR, anyone?

    Makes me appreciate Jeff Merkley's record of legislative success here in Oregon all the more.

  • OregonWarbler (unverified)
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    The Oregonian is following the same tack with Gordon Smith that it followed with Bob Packwood: No reality allowed -- even when a certain senator chases an Oregonian reporter around a desk! I wish I knew what goes on when they decide on their editorials. Certainly logic and any kind of institutional memory are totally absent. The Oregonian is desperate to raise its subscription numbers and desperate to respond to the online media. Somehow the editorial board of the Oregonian just doesn't understand that people don't like to be fooled with. The Oregonian lost a huge amount of credibility when it went flatfooted on Packwood. Now it is doing the same with Gordon Smith. They will probably suggest that Greg Walden get re-elected in the second district despite his trashing of the county payments bill. And they wonder why they can't make any money! Or attract more subscribers! What a hoot!

  • Susan Shawn (unverified)
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    The Oregonian is following the same tack they followed in the lead up to the illegal occupation of Iraq! I hope that the folks who make the decisions at that paper have the grace to be ashamed of themselves. I don't remember them asking any questions then, either.

    I live in Clackamas County, and our own local Clackamas Review is turning into a useful paper, beginning to do some in depth reporting.

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