(By the way, they didn't have the courage to publish this letter)
Editor,
You will undoubtedly be happy to learn that this is the last time your readers will have to endure another letter from that right-wing kook, Tom McCort. My subscription to your paper will expire soon and I will not be renewing it.
I have been reading The Herald-Palladium or its predecessor The Herald-Press for nearly sixty years. While I have not always agreed with your editorial positions, they were usually well reasoned and reflective of traditional, centrist/conservative Midwest values. In recent years that has all changed. It has now reached a point that most national and world news in your paper comes from the Associated Press, an organization that has views to the left of the country as a whole, and even further to the left of most residents of southwest Michigan. I suppose your near-exclusive use of this left-wing “news” source has conditioned a portion of your readership to shrug-off the leftward editorial direction your paper has taken as well. Whatever the reason for this hard left turn, I can no longer support a publication that espouses views and values that are regularly 180 degrees opposite of my own.
When you published left-wing political hit-job editorials from the Associated Press (you call it “analysis”) on your front page, rather than on the editorial or opinion page, I viewed it as an exercise in journalistic dishonesty. But I gritted my teeth and moved on. The final straw came, however, when you endorsed Barack Obama, a man with the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate, for President of the United States.
You couldn’t even be honest about your reason for the endorsement, blaming it mostly on Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications. Her lack of qualifications? That’s a good one. Since when isn’t a governorship enough qualification to be vice president? Being a governor was the only qualification Bill Clinton had to be PRESIDENT! Being a governor was the only qualification Jimmy Carter had to be PRESIDENT! But in its infinite wisdom, the editorial board of the Herald-Palladium cited Governor Palin’s lack of qualifications as one of the primary reasons for endorsing Senator Obama for president. That is a textbook example of convoluted logic.
Speaking of qualifications, have you ever editorially bemoaned Senator Obama’s lack of executive/managerial qualifications to be president? Not that I recall. But we are to believe it’s Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications that caused you to endorse Obama. There seems to be no end to the convoluted logic. Why not dispense with the “qualifications” nonsense and just admit that an intelligent, straight-talking conservative, traditional values-type woman, who has higher approval ratings in her state than any other governor in the country, doesn’t fit the required liberal template for high office?
On a final note, I do give you credit for finally coming out of the closet and showing your true liberal colors. Now we know exactly where you stand, and I thank you for that. With all of the Chicago people moving into the area, perhaps you can maintain a niche market for your left-wing paper.
Goodbye and Good Luck,
