If you missed this morning’s Virginian Pilot, then you missed an entertaining column by editorial writer Don Luzzatto. Somewhow, a fundraising letter sent out by RPV chair Jeff Frederick ended up in his mailbox. And Luzzatto didn’t like what he read:
Picking on Jeff Frederick, the 14-year-old head of the RPV, is – I know – poor form. But he started it.
Ouch 🙂 Seems that Frederick’s use of the term “liberal media elite” got Luzzatto going.
Now, though, the preferred target is something called the “liberal media elite” – a phrase so commonly deployed that it demands to be decoded: “Liberal” means anyone other than Sean Hannity; “media” is a form of communication other than talk radio and FOX News; and “elite” includes anyone who disagrees with the listener.
Luzzatto is in rare form today. Head on over and read the whole thing.
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And since it’s pick on Frederick day, check out this post from Waldo. As usual, MB got to it first.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Wow. This was way more impressive than the letter I send the RPV every time Obama or Biden comes to the state:
Hmm, it removed all of my mail merge fields. Annoying.
Yeah, because they aren’t pure HTML. Anyway, I think we get the point 🙂 (I put some blanks in there for you)
I saw the column this morning and got a good laugh at it.
Wow- I can’t remember him going after anyone this hard. The “14 year old” comment was too funny!
Jeff is a good friend, who is among the most fair-minded citizens whom I know. We can disagree on issues and candidates, yet he always remains open and honest in discussing his position.
Under his leadership, the RPVA has already become much more responsive and supportive of the GOP candidates. The office staff are also much more friendly and helpful to our fellow Virginians, regardless of Party affiliation.
In spite of being saddled with what I view as a very, very poor slate of candidates for President, VP and Senate, Jeff Frederick has been soldiering on, far better than most of us, had we been similarly hobbled with such ghoulishly bad nominees.
For not giving proper credit to Jeff Frederick for doing great work in the toughest of circumstances, Mr. Luzzatto at the Pilot rather blatantly confirms that he deserves the moniker, “liberal media elitist.” It would have been a sign of fairness and objectivity for Luzzatto to have honestly praised Mr. Frederick’s ability to press on, under the most trying of circumstances. Instead, in typical cowardly fashion, Luzzatto tries to kick Jeff Frederick while he and the RPVA are down; a most dishonorable act on the part of anyone, especially a staff member of the Virginian-Pilot.
saddled, hobbled – Mr Frederick asked for this job, and in some people’s opinion, steamrolled everyone for it. And saddled with bad nominees? Who would want to volunteer to work for a failed brand as a candidate. John McCain has shown us what happens when the powers that be in the Republican Party unduly influence their candidate: he sounds like he has lost his mind.
proper credit – forget all those intolerant and borderline racist things he has said, because, after all It’s ok if you are a Republican.
Has the RPV ever ‘kicked someone while they are down”? I could have sworn they had.
“Has the RPV ever ‘kicked someone while they are down’? I could have sworn they had.”
Yeah, because Democrats would never do that, right? Pot, meet kettle.
J Tyler- oh dear, you are so right.
We should just give the RPVA a HUGE hug, right? Not so fast.
I’m glad some on the left are finally starting to hit back- it’s about time.
I am so sick of “liberal” and “elite” being strung together. We are not the “priviledged” ones who are fighting for tax cuts for the top 1% and corporation. We don’t “dis” the government unless they are bailing out Wall Street.
And the corporate media IS biased. IT is biased against the left with a few exceptions.
Good for Luzzatto for “having a pair” .
The point is that we owe it to our fellow citizens to show that we can remain civil towards others with whom we might have differences on a few political issues.
Certainly our citizens should strongly advocate for positions and points of view that they believe in, but we needn’t demonize those on the opposite side in the process. There has been a terrible trend during the Bush years where the worst along the fringes of both Left and Right seem to think that snarky comments take the place of thoughtful discourse. Not only is this a horrible example to set for the citizens in the streets, but it lays the groundwork for greater polarization that will likely end up in the form of violence between the most extreme factions.
Jeff Frederick is, as the Chairman of the RPVA, obviously partisan. Most of the Press, by their own admission, are aligned with the Left, so it is not a surprise for Mr. Frederick to point out the routine bias against all things Republican in the media.
In my experience in talking with him, Jeff Frederick is steadfast in his high moral and ethical standards. When we talked during the State GOP Convention, Jeff Frederick pledged to produce a more fair and responsive Republican Party. He has been diligently steering the RPVA back onto the right course ever since he was elected as our Chairman.
We don’t need to group hug and to sing Kumbaya, but as Virginians we should retain the tradition of promoting civil discourse and courtesy towards those who hold different views. This is especially important here in Virginia where our citizens like their politics blended in such a manner that your neighbor who financially supports a Republican like Randy Forbes for Congress in one cycle, will turn around and gladly support Democrat, John Miller for a State Senate race, and see no conflict in such behavior.
Because Virginians like our politics blended, it is best to remember our good, Southern manners, since twenty-five percent (or more) of those who are on the other side this election, may very well be on your side next time around.
BTW, I agree that 01/20/2009 will be the end of an error. Our economy is not just weak, it’s been “Bushed!”
CR UVa–
Playing a whiny, quivering-lipped victim is unbecoming of you. If you run into Jim Gilmore, please pass tell him, “ditto.”
“Most of the Press, by their own admission, are aligned with the Left…”
Can you document this, please, Mr. Ballance, particularly the “by their own admission” part?
“The point is that we owe it to our fellow citizens to show that we can remain civil towards others with whom we might have differences on a few political issues.”
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, that has been the hallmark of the Republican Party of Virginia. Please spare us the Southern dignity and honor (ma)caca. The RPV has bashed its opponents as long as I can remember, and gotten into office by a combination of shameless lies, smears, race-baiting, voter suppression, “redistricting,” and fear-mongering. The RPV’s sordid history has now come home to roost, most embarrassingly in the candidacy of failed Governor Jim Gilmore.
If that’s the best you got, I guess you have no choice but ask for kindness from those to whom you never extended the courtesy in the past.
From: The American Journalist in the 21st Century:
“The research from Weaver and his colleagues echoes the findings of a Pew Research Center survey from 2004 revealing that while the majority of journalists described themselves as moderate, they were clearly to the left of the public. One example was that journalists were considerably more willing to say that society should accept homosexuality than the average citizen was.
“The American Journalist” also included several “wedge issue” questions and found journalists more likely to take liberal social positions than the public generally. For instance, journalists proved more supportive than the public of legal abortion under any circumstances (40% to 25%) and stricter laws regulating firearm sales (65% to 51%).
Weaver and his colleagues concluded that while “the pendulum moved back toward the center a bit” in 2002, “the overall picture was still one of U.S. journalists being somewhat more liberal politically than the public at large.”
Also see research by Pewresearch.org and http://www.journalism.org.
When surveyed, journalists show, BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION, that they are typically twice as likely as their readers to identify as “Left” “liberal” and are most often Democrats. Although the media tries to deflect this criticism, claiming to remain objective, the actual slant of what gets covered and the type and content of coverage, demonstrates continued leftward bias.
As for Spot, who has a very cloudy and selective memory, we can always depend on him for the frothing at the mouth version of ultra-partisan rants. It would be good to have Spot take a seat between Linwood Holton, a Democrat who helped build the Republican Party here in Virginia and who was elected as Governor as a Republican and his son-in-law, Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, and see how well his blanket hatred and gross generalizations about all Republicans play in front of those two accomplished Virginia political leaders.
By most national political yardsticks, both Holton and Kaine are, in reality, Democrats. Yet, Virginians were willing to accept both man’s “blended” style of politics and elect each as Governor; one as a Republican and one as a Democrat.
This is perhaps the most baffling aspect of Virginia politics to outsiders, especially those who are maniacally partisan fringe dwellers. However among long-time Virginia families, the blended political model remains as much a part of our traditions as the Autumn harvest and the holding of re-unions with old friends at annual football games. In Virginia, we can still fight like Hell over particular issues, but then have our political opponents join us for supper, or for collective festivities like the Shad Planking or the Norfolk Kiwanis’ Harbor Fest.
That has got to be one of the more quoted pieces I’ve seen recently.
One of the problems behind this, and often not noted by conservatives, is that the people who actually put the news out there, i.e, the publishers, directors, CEOs, owners, etc., identify as Republicans.
I usually equate it this way: If I’m a waiter at a sushi restaurant, I have to serve sushi. Just because I like subs, and may eat them all the time at home, does not mean I can serve cold cut sandwiches.
See where I’m going with this JT? Just because a journalist is a dem, that does not mean that what the paper prints will have that slant. Now, on an editorial page, that’s different. Those are people’s opinions, not news.
Fact remains that with every year we have seen our media nd journalism as a profession become entangled in the the “entertainment” reality. True news, objective journalism has become a victim in this era of “political entertainment”. MSNBC is the bastard stepchild of the NBC News division with a long, historical reputation that has seen it image be tarnished by MSNBC. The removal of Olbermann and Mathews from “anchor” spots of politcial coverage illustrates this. There is a time for objectivity, especially in those roles and I was impressed that NBC made the move to remove them. They still have their “shows” which is fine because like Hannity & Colmes it is “political entertainment” and not a true news medium.
The days of somehow not seeing the anchors political persuasion may simply have died with Tim Russert. I have found that since his death MSNBC has spiraled south into more of a partisanship role than ever before. Regardless of Russert’s views, he was fair and honorable without interjecting personal hits on his guests. This campaign season demonstrates just what a loss Russert truly has been to the media. Olbermann and Maddow have their place, but its simply not aligned with NBC news or its traditions. Mathews I find for the most part to be the better format and an increased level of intellectual honesty given he can state matter of factly when both sides are to blame for something or something is not right. The others see things and present things through a single one dimensional lense.