Posted on 11/07/2004 7:07:48 AM PST by johnny7
As Democrats resign themselves to four more years with George Bush in the White House, one beleaguered newspaper is discovering the consequences of taking on the President in his own backyard.
The Lone Star Iconoclast, in Crawford, Texas, where Mr Bush has a ranch, usually covers high school football games and local court cases. But a week ago, in an editorial misjudgment of staggering proportions, the newspaper - circulation 920 - decided to endorse John Kerry in the race for the White House. Readers, wrote the paper's editor, Leon Smith, "should not rate the candidate by his home town or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country". President Bush, he continued, "has let us down" on Iraq and the economy. His words did little to sway the electorate, and the President held Texas with ease. But the Iconoclast's readers, many of whom profit from the regular visits of tourists, journalists and the occasional world leader to Crawford, are furious.
The newspaper has been flooded with angry letters, readers are boycotting it and shops refusing to stock it. Mr Smith is considering pulling out of town. "The hate mail hasn't stopped," he said. "There have been about 2000 letters in all, from Crawford and the rest of our circulation area. We knew some people wouldn't like it, but the vehemence of the reaction has been extraordinary. People just glare at me in the street." The Kerry endorsement was a bold move for a paper dependent on local advertising income. Road signs around Crawford proclaim the area to be "Bush Country". Shops sell Bush badges, Bush mugs and Bush T-shirts. About 80 per cent of Crawford's 700 residents are declared Bush supporters. Almost all, it seems, have penned an angry letter to The Lone Star Iconoclast. Advertising revenue has collapsed and football coaches are refusing to allow reporters to cover their matches.
But while local readership of the Iconoclast has halved, its now-famous editorial has attracted new subscribers from Barcelona, Toronto and Dublin. Despite his plummeting circulation and the ostracism of his reporters, Mr Smith has no regrets. "We did that editorial based on principle," he said.
This week, the Iconoclast is working on an election conspiracy theory, involving possible tampering with electronic voting machines in Florida and Ohio.
Hehe. Its already been started. It's called "FR," and it beats the pants off even the New York Times every moment of every day.
The man had his two minutes of fame, now he can live with the results of his "principles".
Leon may have to sell his paper before his circulation drops to zero.....
I don't believe that this is anywhere to be found in the Constitution.
Even the Houston Chronicle, lying through its teeth, gave a tepid endorsement of Bush over Kerry.
Dumbass.
Article Published: Wednesday, September 29, 2004
d.note
Snortin hellfire in Crawford
Crawford, Texas hometown newspaper on Tuesday endorsed John Kerry with this headline, Kerry Will Restore American Dignity. Alright, so the Lone Star Iconoclast aint the Washington Post, but it is in Bushs front yard.
However, vengeance is swift in Crawford.
According to the New York Times, advertisers are already canceling their contracts with the paper. But W. Leon Smith, the papers publisher-editor and Democratic mayor of Clifton, Texas, says he expected as much. Smith said he decided to publish the editorial anyway because we felt we had to be able to sleep at night.
If the paper doesnt weather this storm, at least Smith will have sent it off with a bang.
A few highlights:
The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.
Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and Iraq.
WAR
In those dark hours after the Word Trade Center attacks, Americans rallied together with a new sense of patriotism. We were ready to follow Bushs lead through any travail He let us down He did not trust us to be ready to sacrifice, build up our public and private security infrastructure, or cut down on our energy use to put economic pressure on the enemy in all the nations where he hides. He merely told us to shop, spend, and pretend that nothing was wrong.
Rather than using the billions of dollars expended on the invasion of Iraq to shore up our boundaries and go after Osama bin Laden and the Saudi Arabian terrorists, the funds were used to initiate a war with what Bush called a more immediate menace, Saddam Hussein, in oil-rich Iraq. After all, Bush said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction trained on America. We believed him, just as we believed it when he reported that Iraq was the heart of terrorism. We trusted him.
The Iconoclast, the Presidents hometown newspaper, took Bush on his word and editorialized in favor of the invasion. The newspapers publisher promoted Bush and the invasion of Iraq to Londoners in a BBC interview during the time that the administration was wooing the support of Prime Minister Tony Blair Again, he let us down.
Now he argues unconvincingly that Iraq was providing safe harbor to terrorists, his new key justification for the invasion. It is like arguing that America provided safe harbor to terrorists leading to 9/11.
LAZY
We should expect that a sitting president would vacation less, if at all, and instead tend to the business of running the country, especially if he is, as he likes to boast, a wartime president. America is in service 365 days a year. We dont need a part-time President who does not show up for duty as Commander-in-chief until he is forced to, and who is in constant state of blameless denial when things dont get done.
(In an interview with the New York Times, Mayor Smith explained, Bush has been a part-time president. Theres a work ethic here in Texas, people work hard, especially the middle class they dont get two or three months vacation a year.)
DENIAL
Iraq is now a quagmire: no WMDs, no substantive link between Saddam and Osama, and no workable plan for the withdrawal of our troops. We are asked to go along on faith. But remember, blind patriotism can be a dangerous thing and spin will not bring back to life a dead soldier; certainly not a thousand of them.
PUSHY BUSHY
The publishers of the Iconoclast differ with Bush on other issues, including the denial of stem cell research, shortchanging veterans entitlements, cutting school programs and grants, dictating what our children learn through a thought-controlling test from Washington rather than allowing local school boards and parents to decide how young people should be taught, ignoring the environment, and creating extraneous language in the Patriot Act that removes some of the very freedoms that our founding fathers and generations of soldiers fought so hard to preserve
NO MORE YEARS
The re-election of George W. Bush would be a mandate to continue on our present course of chaos. We cannot afford to double the debt that we already have.
KERRY
John Kerry has 30 years of experience looking out for the American people and can navigate our country back to prosperity and re-instill in America the dignity she so craves and deserves. He has served us well as a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and has had a successful career as a district attorney, lieutenant governor, and senator
The Iconoclast urges Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country.
The Iconoclast wholeheartedly endorses John Kerry.
*** Id suggest that Mayor Smith enter the federal witness protection program, but considering who heads up the justice department, its probably better to just stand and fight.Dani Newsum, a former civil rights attorney in the Colorado Attorney General's office, appears weekly on KBDI Channel 12's "Colorado Inside Out" (8 p.m. Fridays).
That's skerry if other people beside you believe this, and I know there are! You mean press "is supposed to have equal access" to my kids pee wee games, to all their school activities, to my private life, and to just about everything else? I trust you can provide legally sound documentation for your educated assertion so that we know.
Town takes revenge on paper that backed Kerry
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!
Thanks for the ping. This clown gets what he deserves.
Town takes revenge on paper that backed Kerry
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
haha! Yeah, no kiddin'! :^D
Republicans everywhere should boycott papers that endorsed Kerry. Cancel all subscriptions, stop placing ads in the rags.
Anybody comes up with an email address for this jerk, I'll send him my regards again.I did already - right after they endorsed Kommie Boy Kerry !
My thanks to BulletBobCo for the concept of this
pic and to Conspiracy Guy for the captions!
Here locally the Ft. Worth Star Telegram can hardly give it's papers away for free.
Oh well, and the press is supposed to be objective and nonpartisan too and they are obviously in violation of that.
I wonder how long those "new subscribers" are going to be interested in whether or not Mrs. Murphy's cat was found or the new parking lot at the First Baptist Church or the new schedule for the Little League Baseball games?
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