John Kirkpatrick's opinion piece published on Sunday leaves no doubt the Patriot's editorial board and Linda D. Thompson have found common ground. Both are clueless.
The Patriot-News continues to believe if only Linda "would reach out to others in this time of crisis, helping those of us in the press to communicate (her) ideas and plans for the city" everything will be just fine. Trouble is, Linda doesn't have a plan or any ideas or a Communications Director/Translator to prevent her from taunting angry citizens.
Incredibly, Kirkpatrick writes:
Candidate Thompson was different than Mayor Thompson. She was continually out and about in the city sharing her vision. She expressed strong opinions but also surrounded herself with smart and dedicated people, including local business leaders. She offered hope and excitement to many city residents who felt cut out from the city’s successes. Our editorials at the time expressed reservations about her personal style but also reflected and honored the faith that people from different races, parts of the city and walks of life had placed in her.
Really? To express surprise that a candidate is not delivering on promises strikes us as supremely naive. We also had quite a different take on the editorials at the time.
If John really wants to honest, perhaps he will address rumors that days before the election a coalition of black clergy met with the editorial board and demanded the paper back off coverage of Thompson. The Patriot caved and imposed a moratorium on any reportage of the Harrisburg mayoral contest as election day approached.
Kirkpatrick slogs on in the Patriot's defense, "In our editorial columns, we have continually pleaded with Mayor Thompson for the transparency she promised on the campaign trail."
John, what ever made you think Linda Thompson who has veiled parts of her past in secrecy had any intention of being open and transparent? While on the campaign trail promising transparency she threw one of your reporters out of a press conference. Pleading for transparency now seems a bit beside the point.
In case we haven't been paying attention, Kirkpatrick catalogs examples of Thompson's questionable and erratic behavior in his piece including her belief the Patriot has bugged her office and the "forces of evil" voicemail she left on a citizen's cellphone.
We get it John. No one who hasn't drunk Linda's Kool-Aid thinks the Patriot is "out to get" her. In fact, many who have been paying attention think the Patriot has shirked its journalistic mandate.
The sooner the editorial board realizes there are some truisms in life, the better for all of us.
- You can't appease a tyrant.
- You can't negotiate with terrorists.
- You can't reason with the insane.
Ever optimistic, we cling to the hope the Patriot ran this Neville Chamberlainesque codswallop as yet another trial balloon. Sadly for the Patriot, the Central Penn Business Journal's courageous editorial published the previous Friday was already garnering praise on PennLive from commentators who urged the venerable daily to "grow a pair."
The Patriot insists it cares about " . . . Harrisburg’s future. This has been our home for more than 150 years and will continue to be our home."
For 150 years, from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to . . . terrorism on the home front, The Patriot-News has reported and recorded the joy and despair of life's individual moments and humanity's collective experience.
-- From The Patriot-News "Our History" webpage
One thing is certain. The Patriot is still getting it as spectacularly wrong today as it did then. Here's what it printed after Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg:
". . . we pass over the silly remarks of the President: for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of."
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1 comment:
Thank you.
You are absolutely correct that the word is that P-N is/was in cahoots with the likes of Reginald Guy and the Interdenominational Ministerium.
You are absolutely correct that the word on the street is that IMC reps-- Pastors Odom, Harris, Alton and a few others, along with Guy-- visited the newspaper a few days before the semi-endorsement was published because there were allegations surfacing about Thompson's past that reporter Sharon Smith was being pressured to investigate.
The IMC called the newspaper leadership on the carpet for its historic treatment of the African American community. The word on the street is that they also told them to back off of Thompson or there would be serious trouble for the newspaper and the city.
The press caved. It can be argued that the newspaper, facing such pressure and looking squarely at its own dismal record (which continues to this day)had no recourse but to cave under such glaring scrutiny.
It can be argued that it attempted to find common ground in a no-win situation, where Thompson would be given a chance to succeed or fail on her own merits.
Now, one year and one month later the paper sees how tragically sick she is, and how tragically terrible the situation is in the city.They see that they have compromised themselves into a [osition where they are being required to support the person who daily undermines them.
Some see this as poetic justice.
I see it as a symptom of all that ails this place.
Her diatribes will never stop because she cannot be stopped.
It has no choice but to write articles pleading with the mayor to show some balance.She is kicking them whenever she gets a chance, and it happens every where, no matter the occasion.
Here's the other thing---those ministers who sat in the room and told the paper to back off--they can't control her. No one can.
She, like the city, like every constituency that comprises this thing we call Harrisburg, is deeply unbalanced.
They now see, as some of us have always known, that she was this unbalanced well before she ran for any public office.
This is not intended to make excuses for the Patriot News, but to excavate the deal they made with the devil.
I have met only one or two business leaders with any understanding of just how damaged and destructive are the forces of Thompson and this place; of the degree to which race and special deals have despoiled this community for generations.
But then Reed was damaged and destructive as well.
As my friends and I remind ourselves: she learned everything she knows about city politics from him.
As long as we elect the old leadership we will get the same results.
My two cents.
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