It seems every time I believe I see the Columbian, Clark County’s “newspaper of record” becoming objective and actually publishing political stories in a fair manner, they go out of their way to prove me wrong. When it comes to political views down at the Columbian, the bias in favor of liberal Democrats is so glaring it would blind.
Oh, Editor Lou Brancaccio has long maintained they are objective and not biased, but nobody really buys that any longer. Cries by some that they lean towards Republicans are laughable and might be planted as anybody can see the lean of the Columbian favors Democrats.
Article after article, day after day the Columbian makes scant mention of Democrats who might err or do wrong, but it is glossed over quickly.
Republicans, on the other hand, do not receive such glowing praise or scant mention as do Democrats.
Case in point, the latest non-news story to appear in the paper, Legislative candidate registered car, never changed plates, Debbie Peterson blames stubborn screws for delay in replacing Oregon tags.
Yes, she bought a car from Oregon, paid to register here in Washington and had trouble removing the screws attaching the plates, then horror upon horror, forgot about it!
Call the FBI, get Interpol involved, form a lynch mob, a Republican woman “forgot!”
Along with the revelation of such a “major scandal,” we see the usual slate of political hacks commenting who flock into every article pointing out that a Republican is human to paint them as inept. Mike Briggs, Greg Owens, Fran Hammond, Chris Prothero and many more flock in to whip up hysteria and misrepresent a simple mistake.
Stand on issues? Who cares about that, the unofficial daily newsletter for Democrats found juicy gossip unworthy of the National Inquirer to spread, Debbie Peterson has difficulty removing a fastener and then, forgot.
No law was broken, no effort was made to not register the car in a timely manner, and she simply had trouble with the fastener and then forgot. It slipped her mind as she delved into important things, like how we are being ripped off by the CRC and voters are not being represented in a manner we deserve.
We have seen this blatant bias several times now. Be it Jim Jacks abruptly walking out on constituents in mid-session, Jim Moeller dishonoring over 70% of voters by suing to overturn our vote, to providing cover for Democrats throwing Jon Haugen under the bus at their state convention after scathing condemnations of the Clark County Republicans over sanctioning County Commissioner Marc Boldt, the Columbian continues to prove themselves to be the “Hyenas of Inkville.”
Why anybody would actually pay any money for this unofficial Democrat Party daily newsletter escapes me. I cancelled my subscription several years ago as I tired of opening the paper daily only to read what an idiot I am for actually having values contrary to the Progressive taxpayer rip off agenda.
Efforts to claim objectivity are laughable at best, relying on a 2004 endorsement of President Bush for president and their endorsement of SEIU defending congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler as support.
But when push comes to shove, a conservative Republican doesn’t stand a chance at anything approaching fairness from the Columbian. Supportive Evidence of that would be the 2010 campaign between candidates Paul Harris, a Republican and Democrat Monica Stonier. They refused to endorse Stonier in the primary due to “her close ties to the Teachers Union,” but chose her over the Republican when they issued an endorsement for the general election.
We see it often as you will be hard pressed to find a kind word written about 17th Legislative District Senator Don Benton or County Commissioner Tom Mielke, both Republicans.
It reminds me of a joke circulating and modified below,
A man is sitting at the Zoo in Portland, Oregon when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion’s cage.
Suddenly, a huge, hungry lion reaches out and grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside his cage.
The man jumps to his feet, sprints past the little girl’s screaming parents to the cage and punches the lion square on the nose.
The stunned lion releases the little girl and staggers backward, whimpering in pain. The man snatches the little girl back to safety and returns her to her terrified parents who thank him endlessly.
A reporter for the Columbian witnessed the whole event. “Sir,” she says to the man, “that was the bravest, most gallant thing I’ve seen a man do in my entire life.’
“Why, it was nothing, really,” says the man modestly. “The lion was behind bars. I saw this little girl in danger and I just reacted instinctively.”
“Well, I’ll make sure your heroism won’t go unnoticed,” the Columbian reporter responds. “I’m a reporter for the Columbian and I’ll make sure this story is on the front page of tomorrow’s paper. Tell me what you do for a living and what your political affiliation is.”
“I’m a State Senator,” he says proudly, “and a Republican.”
The journalist leaves.
The following morning the man buys the Columbian to see news of his actions and sees this headline on the front page:
REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH
In a nutshell, that is how the Columbian spin machine operates when covering political matters.
