Thursday, September 10, 2009
Politics / Woods Hometown Paper Slaps Down the Wampster
Posted by Jeff Woods on Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 7:59 AM
"Not that Mr. Wamp is literally rehashing the racist positions of these governors," the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes. "... But he need not say anything racist to strike the 'states rights' chords that still resonate with so many of the older right-wing of his party in the run-up to the GOP primary 11 months from now."
How has the Wampster drawn the newspaper's ire? Let us count the ways:
* His "state's rights shtick" is really nutty. We're talking about all this "meet the federal government at the state line" business. He's stopped just sort of calling for the formation of a Tennessee militia.
* Speaking of militias, the Times is tired of the gun talk too. "[A]sked what he would do with the controversial underground entertainment complex at the governor's mansion ... Mr. Wamp quipped that that 'bunker' would make a nice firing range."
* "He said he would use the governor's 'bully pulpit' to press for more early childhood reading programs -- provided the funding comes from churches, businesses and foundations. It's fair to conclude that he won't burden taxpayers to fund such an important state goal to ensure our children's readiness for global economic competition."
* "He voted against and has harshly deplored the economic stimulus plan that President Bush and Democrats pushed through Congress. He's say it's virtually worthless in terms of creating jobs and helping states. But he's managed to secure roughly $1 billion in stimulus money for some 21 projects in his Third congressional district."
* "Asked at the Rotary meeting to refute to the false 'death panel' scare tactics that some Republicans have repeated, Rep. Wamp waffled big-time: 'You decide what that means,'" he said."
Given the budget crisis that is certain to haunt Tennessee's educational and public service programs for several more years, we would have hoped for a more astute and thoughtful platform from Mr. Wamp. If his strategy is to pander to his party's right wing, and ignore the real issues, it's hard to see why he should be governor.
That's a great editorial. But here's our question: Why did it take so long for the Times to speak out? Wamp has been playing to the wingnuts all summer, battling with Ron Ramsey for the crazy king crown. (The latest pearl of wisdom from Ramsey: "The 10th Amendment means the 10th amendment.") Where's the Kingsport Times-News' editorial? Why aren't the rest of the state's major newspapers joining this criticism? Believe it or not, one of these guys could become the next governor. Newspapers ought to demand that they return to this planet for the campaign.
Comments (10)
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Can't believe this guy actually wants to be governor. It's even scarier to think that he has a good shot at winning.
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I know that the cartoonist at the Times Free Press has been riding Wamp for months now. Here are some recent examples:
http://tinyurl.com/n7guet
http://tinyurl.com/n5xda4
http://tinyurl.com/krdrs4
http://tinyurl.com/lqnpyn
http://tinyurl.com/c4fz5s
And here's one I liked about Robin Smith:
http://tinyurl.com/le24rj
"He's stopped just sort of calling for the formation of a Tennessee militia,"....
perhaps because there already is a Tennessee militia.
True, that's a great editorial, but you should have pointed out that the Times-Free Press has two editorial pages, one liberal and one conservative, a hold-over from the days before the two papers merged.(I realize you already know this but most Nashville readers don't).The Wamp editorial appeared, of course, on the liberal side of the page, while the Free Press editorial writers would agree with most of what Wamp has said.
As you've told me before, you don't like to include messy details in your Pith posts, especially when they distract from your argument, but to say that this is a smackdown by Wamp"s "hometown newspaper" is misleading and unfair.
You're splitting hairs, Henry. Liberal or conservative, the paper is in Chattanooga. Wamp's hometown is Chattanooga. This editorial ran in Wamp's "hometown newspaper."
So when we see a pro-Wamp editorial on the Free-Press side of the page, Jeff will write "hometown paper slaps Wamp on Monday, endorses him on Tuesday"?
Perhaps the underlying point here is the illogic of having an editorial page at war with itself.
What an incoherent rant -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBXX2K8jqMM
Ernest T. was never this goofy. Of course, Wamp also blames the minorities.
