It is no secret in the Commonwealth that Southwest Virginia’s largest newspaper leans to the left. Likewise, it is no secret that the individuals served by this paper comprise one of the most solidly conservative regions of the State.
Indeed, we Roanoke-area Republicans are used to the RT seizing upon almost any opportunity to paint Republicans in a negative light. Even so, today’s uproarious endorsement of 6th Congressional district candidate Sam Rasoul, who is running against incumbent Congressman Bob Goodlatte, takes the cake. This grade-school quality composition exhibits a complete abandonment of any attempt at either logic or even-handedness by the editorial staff of this paper. Truly, it is a journalistic embarrassment that ought to be roundly ridiculed.
This endorsement states the following about Rasoul: “He is still wrapped up in the naïveté of youth,” and “He is idealistic but doesn’t seem to fully grasp or appreciate how the system works.” However, these statements somehow lead the editors to the conclusion that, in the midst of our nation’s greatest time of crisis in decades, “voters could do worse than give Rasoul a chance to prove himself.”
Really, Roanoke Times?! Voters could do worse that entrusting our nation’s future to a naif who doesn’t understand how the system works? Really?!
What is even more incredible is what the article says about Congressman Goodlatte, even while refusing to endorse him. The Roanoke Times states that, “[Goodlatte’s] constituents know him well and appreciate him and what he has done for the district and the state,” and that “[h]e has been a good public servant and has demonstrated often his ability to work in a bipartisan manner, most notably on local and regional projects with Rep. Rick Boucher.”
What are Goodlatte’s crimes, you ask? Well, according to the folks at the RT, he “too often votes the party line.” In other words, he’s a Republican.
Perhaps this all makes perfect sense to the folks in the Roanoke Times editorial staff. Any objective reader, however, can see this “endorsement” for exactly what it is: A thinly veiled attempt to pour scorn upon members of the GOP, a demographic that probably defines the majority of the RT’s readership.
If this rubbish was meant to injure Goodlatte, I suspect it will have little effect. The readers of the RT know Bob Goodlatte to be a thoughful, experienced, and respected member of Congress who has served the 6th District well, regardless of his Party. In the end, I suspect this juvenile attempt at logic and case study in editorial thuggery will reflect much more upon its purveyors than on its target.
