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.Bold" move?
I would call it "arrogant" or "stupid." Probably both.
What makes me chuckle is his inability to predict the outcome. But, that's where the arrogance comes in. He probably thinks that the folks in Crawford are just so stupid or ignorant that he could get away with WHATEVER he wanted -- with no fall out.
Arrogance. 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.
1. If Mr. Smith has no regrets, then it shows what little regard he has for his readership.
It also shows what little regard he has for his reporters. He KNEW the "crap" his reporters would have to take and he let it happen.
2. Principle? Baloney. Mr. Smith CHOSE to be the editor in this little town and KNEW what his readership was. He was simply being an arrogant S.O.B. and rubbing the noses of his readship in some liberal ka-ka.
This week, the Iconoclast is working on an election conspiracy theory, involving possible tampering with electronic voting machines in Florida and Ohio.
More arrogance.
He won't last long there.
No doubt he will show up as a columnist somewhere in the near future, at some liberal rag in a blue state.
No doubt he will show up as a columnist somewhere in the near future, at some liberal rag in a blue state. Just another glaring example of how liberals create lose jobs for the very people who work for them.
Liberal idiot makes his point and the people who work under him lose their jobs as a result.
Way to go idiot!