Bogus Gold

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is a paper regarded among anyone to the right of Paul Wellstone as having a pronounced liberal bias; especially in its editorial section. This is not news.

However the newspaper's defenders have frequently noted how they strive for "balance" all the same. You know. It's not like they ONLY print the opinions of liberals and freeze out conservative voices entirely...

... except when they do. Like in today's letters to the editor section, which does exactly that, printing nine letters from liberals compared to zero from anyone else.

I'll spare you the agony of actually having to read the talking-point laden letters and summarize:

1. Condemns Bush's troop-surge plan in Iraq.

2. Wonders what planet President Bush and his advisers are living on.

3. Condemns former Democratic Congressman Tim Penny for being a stealth conservative who conspired to get the evil Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty elected.

4. Lauds former DFL Attorney General (and thrice failed DFL gubernatorial candidate) Mike Hatch for being an all around swell guy.

5. Lauds former Democratic Senator Mark Dayton for being an all around swell guy, and thinks he'd make a great governor.

6. Lauds the Democratic Party for being fiscally responsible, and condemns Republicans.

7. Calls for the legislature to ban cell phone use while driving.

8. Condemns creationists for not accepting evolution.

9. Claims our warm winter is the result of global warming, and calls on Minnesota's politicians to act on it.

Alright, technically numbers 7 and 8 don't have to come from liberals, but the one speaks of nanny-statism while the other implicitly attacks religious people so it's a fairly safe bet.

Who's editing the letters page these days? Is it still Tim O'Brien (of eminently mockable "Blog House" fame)? It would be kind of funny to see him try to spin this one.

"Readers Representative" Kate Parry might be more fun though (much of the following is actual Parry-spin lifted from a previous column):

"During the two years I've been in this job, several times readers have pointed out what appears to them to be political bias. Sometimes, but not always, the allegations come from those who disagree with a columnist's, or letter writer's political views.

I can see why readers' suspicions are sometimes raised. I work with managing editor Scott Gillespie to investigate these claims, no matter what the motivation.

Recently a reader suggested the Star Tribune's Letter to the Editor page printed exclusively pro-Democratic Party and anti-Republican Party letters. But when Gillespie, who is continuing to look into it, read the letters in question, he noted that he just didn't see it.

Etc., etc...."

When the newspaper's new owners contemplate how to grow the appeal of the Star Tribune, they might start by remembering that other half of the political spectrum... say by pretending not to loathe every one of them now and again.