Several years ago I noticed many anti-Bush letters to the editor in our local paper from in state residents.
I received papers from neighboring states and there were the same letters written by their instate residents. Same talking points, same paragraphs, same old-same old.
The only difference was every once in a while there would be a paragraph between the talking points dealing with local issues but overall they were the same.
You know, newspapers could probably gain a lot of respect if they just took the trouble, as the Manchester Union-Leader did, to check and see if any given Letter to the Editor was an orchestrated talking-points letter. If it was, the paper could run the letter, followed by an editor’s note to the effect that the previous letter has been discovered to be a form letter distributed by ..........
Perhaps the editor could even note that the newspaper prefers its readers’ original thoughts.
Yeah. Like that could ever happen.