PARTISANSHIP WOULD BE GOOD IF . . : Reader Steve Shepherd eloquently expresses a common objection to partisanship rankings -- what if one party is so bad that partisanship would be a virtue?
. . I don't mean to suggest that politics is simple or that one political party is intrinsically either good or evil. However, I do believe that one party, now more than ever, generally tends to represent the interests of a tiny segment of the American public (less than 1%, in fact) and therefore, must rely on a high degree of deception to garner the support of an electoral majority - roughly. The leadership of that party, as well as most of its members, is particularly dishonest about its policies and the intentions behind them. Essentially, they are regularly lying to the public to advance policies that may actually be contrary to basic public interest.I'm suggesting that, if full (let's say an equal number of comments about each party and its members) and unbiased (just facts and fact-based conclusions about political rhetoric, and policy origins and possible effects) political reporting were taking place at the moment, those practicing journalists would be off the chart on the Lying in Ponds partisanship scale. I fear that (at best) it may be the desire by mainstream journalists to appear "non-partisan" that keeps the public mostly in the dark about contemporary politics and politicians. At worst, it is a self-protecting rationalization but, either way, it enables great deception - and possibly great harm - to be perpetrated.
If I believed that one of the major parties represented the interests of less than 1% of the American public, then the whole premise of my approach wouldn't make sense. Obviously I don't think that. I believe that both liberal and conservative ideological viewpoints have substance and legitimacy, and that each approach tends to work well in some cases and poorly in others. Aside from issues, I don't think that it's difficult to notice that both parties have their share of war heroes (John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, Bob Dole, John McCain, etc.), and also those who have been convicted of crimes (Dan Rostenkowski, Oliver North, etc.) -- the full range of human behavior.
I think that an honest, independent columnist who strongly believed that one party is better than the other would still have a modest partisanship score. The only way to get an extremely high score is to relentlessly focus on negative stories about the other party and systematically avoid anything which inconveniently contradicts the simple good party/bad party formula.
| Author/ Affiliation |
Title/ Date |
words | PI | Partisan References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ann Coulter Universal Press Syndicate |
We don't care, liberals 5 June 2003 |
1078 | 100 | 2D-: Clinton, Bill Clinton 8R+: Bush administration, Bush administration, Bush administration, President Bush, administration, Bush administration, Bush, Bush |
| Cal Thomas Tribune Media Services |
It's the economy, genius! 5 June 2003 |
856 | 82 | 2D+: Bill Clinton, Democrats 4D-: Democratic Party, Democratic, Democrats, Democrat 16R+: President Bush, Bush, Republican, John Snow, Republicans, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, The president, Snow, administration, George W. Bush, administration, Republican, Ronald Reagan |
| Molly Ivins Creators Syndicate |
Don't say no one warned you 5 June 2003 |
946 | 46 | 2R+: George W. Bush, the president 8R-: Administration, The president, White House, Bush, administration, Bush, DeLay, Republican 3R= |
| Richard Cohen Washington Post |
Of Tricks and Trailers 5 June 2003 |
889 | 33 | 1D-: Lyndon Johnson 3R+: the president, the president, Bush 9R-: Bush administration, administration, President Bush, Bush administration, Bush, president, Bush, the president, Bush 2R= |
| William Safire New York Times |
Dear Darpa Diary 5 June 2003 |
792 | 33 | 2D-: Bob Graham, Graham 1R-: Poindexter |
| Jim Hoagland Inactive |
The Price for A Palestinian State 5 June 2003 |
931 | 0 | 1D=, 6R= |
| Bob Herbert Inactive |
Cozy With the F.C.C. 5 June 2003 |
776 | 0 | 2D=, 4R= |
| George F. Will Washington Post |
Baseball Uncorked 5 June 2003 |
842 | 0 | |
| John Fund Inactive |
Jeers for Jazeera 5 June 2003 |
1369 | 0 | 6D=, 2R= |