West v. local liberal media
Just how many soft-shelled, naive-packed bombs can a local liberal media scribbler sling in one article? Plenty, especially if the target is Florida Tea Party member and conservative Congressman Allen West.
Naiveté • na·ive·té • n. 1. The state or quality of being inexperienced or unsophisticated, especially in being artless, credulous, or uncritical. 2. An artless, credulous, or uncritical statement or act.
I hadn't planned on writing about about Florida District-22 (FL-22) Congressman Allen West and his decision to seek his second term in the state's newly-created FL-18. After all, the Florida Legislature completed its redistricting map some time ago and Representative West's announcement is now old news. It was a done deal, nothing to see, move along. Ahem.
That all changed after nearly choking on this morning's corn flakes whilst casually perusing an unflattering article about Lt. Colonel West in our little county's fish wrap of record. The article in question was featured in today's Stuart News (also online at TCPalm) and written by local news reporter cum opinionator Eve Samples. To describe what was written by Ms. Samples as merely unflattering is stretching journalistic license in its own right.
If Ms. Samples' article was billed as an opinion piece or an editorial, and located within the publication's editorial section as such, I would not have bothered to respond. However, her grotesquely-biased hit piece was prominently treated as "news," appearing above the fold on the front pages of both print and electronic editions.
After regaining normal respiration, cleaning up the corn flakes, and re-reading the piece, two significant considerations (other than the obvious lack of journalistic objectivity) were apparent:
Where's the beef?
The first and most striking was Samples' obvious dearth of story background and wealth of opinion-driven rhetoric. To be sure, the article possessed the obligatory comments from West and former FL-16 (now FL-18) Representative Tom Rooney (who will be running for the newly-structured FL-17). Confused? So are many, but the proposed redistricting maps are in legal compliance with both the federal Voting Rights Act and Florida Amendment 6.
Yet our hard-charging, idealistic reporter never bothered to contact Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolous or Florida Representative Will Weatherford, the influential tandem behind Florida's congressional redistricting scheme. Samples never researched their political histories, loyalties, or the fact that the relationship between Colonel West and Haridopolous is strained at best. Had she bothered to investigate, she would have learned why we are muddling through this current mess and who was responsible for turning FL-22 into a Democrat sinkhole, drawn up to doom West.
Instead, Ms. Samples resorted to what liberals do best: unsubstantiated condescension and bombast. Which brings us to the second glaring consideration. Samples is either incredibly naive when it comes to political machinations or she has a politically-honed agenda of her own.
Naiveté or calculated?
The first few sentences of Samples' "objective" reportage warns readers that a bumpy ride is on the horizon for Representative West. They set the stage for the venom injections to follow:
Intro
"Politics and reality television often are mirror images -- each with loudmouth characters, dramatic showdowns and periodic sex scandals.
But the politics we saw on the Treasure Coast last week looked less like reality TV and more like theatrical farce."
Loudmouth characters? Theatrical farce? To whom could she be referring? Oh, that's right -- his name is in her article title. It gets better. After the introduction and a brief explanation of West's intention of campaigning for the new FL-18 seat, Samples' sarcastically interjects: "Never mind that West has never lived in our community."
Eve, we know you to be acutely aware that a congressional representative is not required to live within his or her district. Besides, Colonel West resides only one hour and 40 minutes due South as your unicorn gallops, and he plans to make his home here (as you also know). You make it sound like he's a resident of ... oh, I don't know ... perhaps Chappaqua, New York?
Farce
Samples, after outlining West's appearance and announcement on FNC's Hannity, began lathering up with a healthy measure of pure indignation. She bristles:
"By moving to the evenly split District 18, West ups his chances of getting elected to a second term -- especially since he has no declared opponent here.
It doesn't hurt that his campaign has raised $5.9 million and has more than $2.7 million cash on hand. This, apparently, is the farce 'representative' democracy has become."
Nicely spun. Note how Samples skillfully weaves in the lack of an opponent and West's campaign cash amount. Translation: No Democrat has a chance against this "wealthy guy" (even though West is not a wealthy individual) and therefore, somehow, he is greedy and unfair. Yet perhaps her most self-incriminating and biased bit is the last sentence. Since when did following lawful state statutes and the constitutional rule of law morph into "... the farce 'representative' democracy has become?"
Carpet-bagging
Based upon the lack of objectivity, one might say that this sort of reporting is unprofessional, even unethical. Yet Samples actually outdoes her own vitriol with this next stinging rebuke:
"The district-jumping is perfectly legal. Shocking as it seems, the only residency requirement for the U.S. House of Representatives is that members must live in the state they represent.
Still, West's move looks a lot like carpet-bagging -- just like Hillary Clinton's New York bid for Senate a dozen years ago. Of course, West did not agree with that characterization."
Shocking? Carpet-bagging? Eve, please. Nobody in your position should even pretend to be that obtuse -- unless they deliberately choose to be misleading.
First of all, it is a political reality that representative district swapping has been going on for far longer than when you first learned how to spell 'gerrymander' -- and in equal parts by Democrats and Republicans. Secondly, your Hillary Clinton analogy does not hold water. She chose to reside in bluest-of-blue New York State simply because she was virtually guaranteed a Senate seat. Representative West had FL-22 purposely redrawn out from under him to promote a new, heavily-liberal constituency that would vote him out in November.
Carpet-bagging score: Clinton 1, West 0.
Agenda-driven
Samples culminates her Bash West Fest by questioning his character and motive before moving on to the higher-hanging fruit personified by Representative Rooney:
"I asked West what he hoped to accomplish for Martin and St. Lucie counties, should he get elected in November. 'I want to accomplish what the people say they want to accomplish,' he said. 'This is not about a West agenda.'
It does appear to be about a West-getting-elected agenda, however."
You simply could not paint bias in more vivid colors than has Samples with what The Stuart News has egregiously labeled and published as "reporting." This is not an objective news story, it's a point-blank opinionated bludgeoning and disingenuous character assassination.
Above the fray
Unless the composition of the new FL-18 has changed remarkably in the redistricting process, Tea Party favorite and conservative West has a better chance of winning a primary and the general election than he did in the now-blue FL-22. Further, it is important to note that approximately 25 percent of West's old FL-22 is now part of FL-18 -- he will retain one quarter of his old constituency.
Your author actively campaigned for Allen West in 2010, and also has spoken on a professional basis with Eve Samples back during our hurricane-ravaged years. Of the former, I believe Allen West to be a man of personal integrity, intellect, and honor. He has proven that he reveres the Constitution and our republic, listens to his constituents, and will do the same for my friends and neighbors here in FL-18. Of the latter, Ms. Samples is a decent person who also cares about our region. During our few brief chats she always presented a professional and courteous demeanor.
Our political views are conflicting -- many of her archived articles illustrate a decidedly liberal slant in her reporting. Mind you, such bias by a member of the press is proper when writing an opinion piece or when featured on the editorial page.
However, when such an obviously slanted story is presented to the public as an objective news feature -- especially when a person's good name and credibility are maligned -- it damages our democratic process every bit as much as a politician who forswears his or her oath of office. It crosses the line of demarcation between news and propaganda.
We can somewhat tolerate Ms. Samples' personal bias when she writes of manatees or global warming, but never when participating in the politics of personal destruction. Besides, she has the wherewithal to develop into an objective reporter some day.
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