Washington Post: We Like Turtles

I’ve finally figured out the Washington Post editorial board.

You ever get into a conversation with someone and the random, stray guy comes along without any invitation… and makes a random comment completely unrelated to the task at hand?

That guy?  That’s the Washington Post.

Today’s violence against the English language? This op-ed slamming George Allen for his opposition to the debt ceiling increase.

AS A ONE-TERM Republican senator, George Allen voted four times to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — an expansion totaling $3.2?trillion — explaining at one point that, while it was unpleasant, increasing the limit was the responsible thing to do. Today, as a candidate trying to regain the Virginia Senate seat he lost in 2006, Mr. Allen has found the new debt-limiting religion, and he’s peddling it with the fervor of a convert.

I gotta say… is there anything this guy can do right by the WaPo?  Vote for the debt ceiling increase, the WaPo would have crucified him for playing politics as usual.  Stick to his guns, and he’s just one of those whackadoodle Tea Party types. Of course, Allen’s crime (and by extension, conservatives in general) is wanting to slam the breaks on the runaway spending in Washington.  Something the WaPo editorial board believes is total anathema.

Condemning the spendthrifts in Washington among whom he used to move so collegially, Mr. Allen now blasts the eleventh-hour deal in Congress to avoid default, saying it provides no “long-term solution to our debt crisis.” A spokesman confirms that Mr. Allen, had he been in the Senate, would have voted Tuesday with the minority to defeat the deal.

Translation:  Obama should spend as he pleases.  $3.7 trillion and another $2.5 trillion on top of that since he took office?  Why — there’s two great answers for that from the leftists at the WaPo, isn’t there?  Either force some sort of equivalency with fighting terrorism to today’s stimulus spending spree, or simply break out the “blame Bush” congo drums and sing kum-bay-yah…

So much for Mr. Allen’s erstwhile concern for doing the responsible thing.

Hell… the WaPo just can’t run out of your money to spend, you know.  Subscription, anyone?

Mr. Allen’s cynical flip-flop can be seen partly in the context of Virginia’s Republican primary for the Senate, in which he faces former state Tea Party head Jamie Radtke, whose bona fides as a debt-ceiling diehard are unassailable. Ms. Radtke, like Republican presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), opposes raising the government’s borrowing limit under any circumstances, damn the torpedoes.

So lemme get this straight… the WaPo opposes the idea of holding the line of the debt ceiling.  But praises Bachmann and Radtke for holding the line.  Yet condemns Allen for… joining Radtke and Bachmann… but they… oppose that… right?

Mr. Allen doesn’t go quite that far. But by insisting that a balanced-budget amendment be included in any deal, he sets the bar beyond the realm of political reality. In effect, Mr. Allen’s stance was no less likely to lead to default than Ms. Radtke’s.

Beyond the realm of political reality?  What sort of distant planet are these guys on?  The Balanced Budget Amendment (which I oppose for various and sundry reasons, namely because it throws budgets to the courts) passed the House, and was four votes shy of passing the Senate. Pray tell, what’s so “beyond the realm of political reality” about living within one’s means anyhow?  Oops — I forgot.  Living within our means means we have to raise taxes, not cut spending.  Silly us.

His position stands in contrast with that of the likely Democratic nominee for Senate, former governor Timothy M. Kaine, who backed the debt deal despite the distaste it engendered among his party’s liberal rank and file. But Mr. Allen’s stance also clashed with Virginia’s Republican mainstream. Even as he condemned the debt deal, his fellow Virginia Republicans, including Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, were supporting it. They correctly noted it was imperative to avoid a default on America’s obligations, which would have triggered a catastrophic downgrade in the nation’s credit rating.

So just to get this right, liberal opposition for the debt deal was mere distaste.  Conservative opposition to the debt deal is a “cynical flip-flop” in the eyes of the WaPo.  Everyone got that?

Just as disturbing are the implications of Mr. Allen’s new stance for Virginia’s finances, and for the prosperity of Northern Virginia, the state’s economic dynamo. If the debt deal had been defeated, not only would the likelihood of a downgrade in the credit rating of U.S. Treasury bonds become a certainty, so would a downgrade of Virginia’s own bonds. In fact, Moody’s Investors Service had already warned Virginia and four other states whose economies are highly linked to the federal government that Washington’s debt-ceiling tremors had put them at risk of a credit downgrade.

…whereas spending America into Greece will be beneficial to Northern Virginia and our debt rating? I like turtles.

That would be disastrous for the state, as Mr. McDonnell and other Virginia Republicans recognized. Interest payments would soar — for bonds issued by the state as well as counties and cities — and federal funds for public schools, highway building and other basic functions of government would have taken a devastating hit. The impact would have been particularly severe for federal workers and contractors, a critical segment of Northern Virginia’s population and economy.

You have to wonder how mentally numb these editors are.  Heck — maybe we should sympathize with them.  They too are in a failing model.  Their print newspaper doesn’t work, they’re firing seasoned and quality veterans, the Washington Post is even prostituting their access to politicians to the highest bidder.  Tough times call for desperate solutions, eh? Is it any wonder why these editors are so angry and cynical at the Washington (com)Post?

As governor, Mr. Allen expanded state spending dramatically and left office in good standing; in many respects, he was a pragmatist. As a candidate for the Senate, his attempts to rebrand himself as an insurgent ring hollow.

…and with this, they practically insult the intelligence of every reader that tolerated this editorial long enough to finish it.  I don’t exactly recall the Washington Post supporting Allen’s pragmatism as they participated in the feeding frenzy that was the drive by media in 2006. In short, once again the Washington Post fails to respect its readers with another cynical, derisive editorial designed to stir the pot rather than offer any insightful reflection on Allen or the U.S. Senate race in Virginia.

This kid could run the WaPo, couldn’t he?

So to conclude:  the Washington Post is bitter and corrupt, the mainstream media is dying and corrupt, and until they take their readers a bit more seriously — they will continue to be replaced by the next generation of Washington-based information outlets such as Politico, The Daily Caller, and the Washington Examiner. Can’t be fun to be carrying the MSM buggy and whip when social driven media is running laps around a failed model for news and information.

In the meantime, we’ll see if the WaPo shakes itself loose from the August doldrums.  Maybe it’s just a phase?

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About the author

Shaun Kenney

Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.