The Day has long had a battered spouse syndrome type of relationship with the local right wing. They constantly try to appease them, though it never works. Apparently they’ve upped the ante, having gotten themselves a good right leaning reporter, who is always prepared to carry water for the Republicans. The fellows name is Matt Collette. I really should have collected a bunch of his trespasses before writing this, but I’ll confine myself to three.
First up, this article about the local Republican’s version of the national Pledge to Destroy America:
In a show of party unity not visible among local Democratic candidates, a group of Republicans running for seats in the Connecticut General Assembly pledged to combat the state’s looming fiscal woes with “common sense” solutions.
Whatever is the gentleman talking about? It is quite possible that Democratic unity isn’t visible to him, but that’s because he doesn’t appear to pay much attention to Democrats, other than to trash them. Now, I’ll grant you, Democrats do think for themselves, so they are far less likely than Republicans to march in lockstep (or, since Nazi comparisons are all the rage these days, should I say goose step?), but I’ve seen no evidence that Democrats are not united. So what’s he talking about? Where’s his–you know–evidence?
Next up, we have the why don’t we swallow the Republican talking point whole act. This is from a puff piece about the three Republican contenders for the Second Congressional nomination:
Along with fellow Republicans, they want to reverse Democratic policies like the health care reform bill, enacted by Obama and Democrats in Congress earlier this year, decrease federal spending and restore the Bush tax cuts to reduce the federal deficit and work to improve the economy through job creation and reduced regulations on corporations. (Emphasis added)
Now, an actual reporter might point out that no respectable economist will tell you that preserving this massive transfer of wealth will cut the deficit. It flies in the face of common sense, basic math, and past experience, since both the Reagan and Bush tax cuts produced massive deficits. Where, pray tell, does Mr. Collette think our present deficits came from? Now, Republicans are certainly within their rights to spread these fables. It’s what they do. But it’s a poor reporter that simply passes them on as fact. I’ll be keeping an eye, by the way, to see if Mr. Collette allows Democratic claims to go unquestioned. Note that I’m giving him a pass on swallowing the claim that reducing regulations will improve the economy (talk to the folks around the Gulf about that), but since it takes more than first grade math to wrap your head around that issue, I’m letting that one go, except to add if he was up to third grade history he might recall that it was reduced regulations that tanked the economy in the first place. But that would be asking him to have a functioning memory, and, to be fair, almost no one in the press has one of those.
Finally, here’s one with a local twist.
Last spring, the Groton Long Point Association requested $208,000 for its police department, a sum equivalent to what it would cost the town to police the area itself. In a tight vote, the RTM voted to eliminate that funding, a move it upheld when members tried to reverse the decision.
I’m going to take a page from Dean Baker here. Mr. Collette has no basis on which to assert that the amount in question is equivalent to what it would cost the town to police the area itself. He could report, accurately enough, that the folks from Groton Long Point make that claim, but he has no basis to assert this as a fact. But it does fit the interests of type of folks that appear to be near and dear to his heart.
My wife and I have noticed Collette’s rightward tilt, but I haven’t stooped to notice him in this august space prior to this. But the “unity” quote above tipped me over the edge. In for a dime, in for a dollar. You’ll be hearing more about him if this kind of thing keeps up.
