Even by corporate media “standards,” this morning’s editorial in the Daily Press has got to win the Academy Award for corporate media arrogance and complete lack of self awareness. According to this Tronc-owned, right-wing rag:
“We endorse because we are confident no other outlet can better inform voters on and around the Peninsula.”
Alrighty. So voters in the Hampton Roads region should listen to what a (bad)-corporate-owned, right-wing-leaning editorial board tells them about whom they should vote for? Let’s review some of the Tronc’ed-up Daily Press’ previous endorsements to see how that would have worked out, if you had actually listened to these people.
In 2008, if you had listened to the Daily Press, you would have voted for McCain/Palin over Obama/Biden. Seriously. If the Daily Press had had its way, Sarah Palin would have been heartbeat away from being president and we never would have had the historic, powerful election – and presidency – of Barack Obama. Brilliant, eh?
In 2009, if you had listened to the Daily Press, you would have voted for Republicans Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling for Governor and Lt. Governor. You also would have voted for Republican Del. Phil Hamilton, who resigned just a month or so after the Daily Press endorsement, and “was convicted and sentenced by a U.S. district court jury to 9 1/2 years in prison for federal bribery and extortion charges in August 2011 for soliciting employees of Old Dominion University for a paid position in exchange for a legislative budget amendment that included funding for the position.” Did the Daily Press not know about any of this when it made its endorsement? That would be kinda odd, since “In August 2009 Virginia newspapers obtained emails which revealed Hamilton expected to be hired by Old Dominion University (ODU) in return for procuring public funding for a new teacher training center.” Also, “On September 17, ODU released an internal audit on the Hamilton hiring. The audit found that Hamilton’s invoices had ‘no details of services rendered’ and that his office was ‘only lightly used in the beginning and then later not at all.'” So yeah, the Daily Press endorsed Hamilton despite knowing about all this slime. But Hampton Roads-area voters are supposed to listen to and trust the Daily Press’ endorsements? Hahahahaha.
In 2012, if you had listened to the Daily Press, you would have voted for Willard “Mitt” Romney for President over Barack Obama. My god. And you would have voted for George Allen (!) over Tim Kaine for U.S. Senate. Seriously, the Daily Press actually endorsed “Felix Macacawitz” over Tim Kaine! Oh, and as an added bonus, you would have voted for Republicans Scott Rigell (VA-02) and Rob Wittman (VA-01) for Congress (Daily Press: “Reps. Rigell and Wittman have experience, tools to serve districts effectively” – hahahaha) and right-wingnut Randy Forbes over Democrat Ella Ward. Brilliant, eh? In short, if you had listened to the Daily Press in 2012, you would have voted totally opposite of how you should have voted. President Romney? Senator Allen? Shudddderrrr….
In 2016, if you had listened to the Daily Press, you would have voted for the no-brainer of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump – congratulations! – but you also would have voted for Scott Taylor, now a Tea Party Republican now enmeshed in the #Petitiongate fraud scandal that could lead to indictments in coming weeks for his staff and/or for him. Now, in fairness, the Democratic nominee in 2016 – Shaun Brown – is a piece of work herself, but nobody forced the Daily Press to endorse anyone; they could have recommended NEITHER.
Oh, and in 2017, if you had listened to the Daily Press, you would have voted for Republican David Yancey over Democrat Shelly Simonds, thus giving Republicans control of the House of Delegates by one vote after the winner was pulled out of a bowl. Now, in fairness, you also would have voted for Northam/Fairfax/Herring, so it seems that the Daily Press editorial board does have moments of lucidity. The problem is that those moments are sprinkled among a sea of crap endorsements – McCain/Palin, Romney/Ryan, George “Felix Macacawitz” Allen, “Taliban Bob” McDonnell, Scott Rigell, Rob Wittman, Scott Taylor, Phil Hamilton, etc.
Finally, note that the Daily Press editorial board is also a big fan of far-right Del. Brenda Pogge, who this past March ranted and raved insanely, “it’s not guns that kill people…the question I have for mommy and daddy, are you ready to take those video games away from your kids?” In her (not-so) illustrious career, Pogge has consistently received ZERO ratings from Planned Parenthood and NARAL; ZERO ratings from Equality Virginia; and 100% ratings from the more-extreme-than-even-the-NRA Virginia Citizens Defense League. Yet according to the geniuses at the Daily Press editorial board, extremist nutter Pogge is actually a “thoughtful and nuanced legislator” who “remains true to her conservative principles while at the same time being committed to finding workable solutions to our state’s challenges.” Hahahahaha. Seriously, the Daily Press editorial page wrote this drivel. Yet they think that Hampton Roads-area voters should totally listen to them about who to vote for. I guess the question is, what are these guys smoking and where can people get some? LOL
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