Staff Blog
Inky takes a step down from Santorum, if that’s possible.
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| John Yoo, Inquirer non-savior |
I, like several other local bloggers, was struck yesterday by the fact that the front page of the Inquirer Op-Ed section led with a piece by "enhanced-interrogation" enabler John Yoo. Writes Dan U-A:
I don't normally like to curse on the front page of the blog. The kids and all that. But... John Fucking Yoo? Seriously? John Fucking Yoo?
John Yoo is not just a right-wing shill. He is the right-wing shill who authored bizarrely disingenuous memos authorizing Bush and Co to start torturing people. He did so by simply ignoring the most important case on point, something you learn not to do within the first month of law school, and he will, with a little luck, be disbarred. Why in the world would John Yoo be given a space in the damn paper? I only hope that when Yoo is disbarred, which hopefully will happen some time after the DOJ internal investigation is released, the Inquirer editors will provide us with an explanation as to why this supreme jackass, and godfather of torture, is given so prominent a place in our newspaper of record.
I couldn't get through the piece itself, which I think had something to do with affirmative action. That makes me suspect, though, that it wasn't the gripping nature of the writing or the newsworthy nature of the subject matter that earned the thing its placement. Now, whether Brian Tierney had time this past week, while dealing with all the fall-out from the bankruptcy filing, to insist that his paper run some shit like this, I couldn't say. But it seems clear nonetheless that the Inky's Op-Ed page is going to continue down its Smerconish/Santorum path to non-salvation. I'm not going to be one of those people who pretends that a newspaper's decision to publish something by someone I don't like is the reason for the newspaper's financial problems — all newspapers are having the same problems, pretty much. But it's becoming more evident at this point that the motivation for publishing this sort of thing isn't to make money, right?
It’s already too late to grocery shop with any peace of mind - there was a...
Other than being a few weeks behind (Sunday was not Yoo’s first editorial in the Inquirer), you are exactly right. Yoo is an embarrassment to the legal profession and a guy that will be a footnote in the history books’ discussion of the Bush administration’s attacks on civil liberties and the Constitution. Tierney is nuts to think that selling the soul of the Inquirer will bring in advertising or make the right-wing stop hating it. There are plenty of responsible conservative voices and the Inquirer already publishes some of them.
I couldn’t get through the piece itself, which I think had something to do with affirmative action.
and really, why would you? who needs to read what JOHN YOO, THE GUY WHO SAYS IT’S OK TO CRUSH CHILDREN’S TESTICLES, has to say about affirmative action or civil rights? It’s like reading Torquemada opine on the importance of tolerance and mercy.
The Inquirer’s right-wing columnist Kevin Ferris is editor of Currents so this is what you get when he’s running the show. Of course the page should have lots of different voices, but really…How about someone with ideas.
[...] John Hodgman is not feeling ‘meh’• And just like that, city lifts Snow Emergency status• Inky takes a step down from Santorum, if that’s possible.• It’s a plastic shed — and a Buddhist shrine!• Those were the days: Philly.com [...]
[...] Tax-cut advocates, and particularly the Inky editorial board, have gotten some (I think) unfair criticism over the years from opponents who question their motives — who believe that their position on tax cuts is really a favor to their creditors, their advertisers or whomever. I’ve never worked at the Inky, but knowing what I know about newspapers, I think this is pretty unlikely (though admittedly more likely in the age of Tierney). [...]
thank you very good
[...] Tierney has other ideas. I’m not the only one who gets cranky about this. Our friends at City Paper aren’t happy either. Neither are Young Philly Democrats. Nor is Brendan [...]
thanks:-)
John Hodgman is not feeling ‘meh’• And just like that, city lifts Snow Emergency status• Inky takes a step down from Santorum, if that’s possible.• It’s a plastic shed — and a Buddhist shrine!• Those were the days: Philly.com