It's No Big Surprise The Herald Times Endorses Hill

The Herald Times under the misguided direction of its editor Bob Zaltsberg today sold out and broke a long standing tradition of not endorsing Congressional candidates by endorsing Baron Hill in the 9th District over incumbent Mike Sodrel. The reasoning behind their endorsement was as stale as Baron Hill’s talking points. Its highly disappointing that a newspaper has to stoop to such a low point by encouraging people to vote for a candidate that has failed to gain any traction with his own campaign. Baron Hill has not shown any indication that he has any new ideas or plans that would give the citizens of the 9th District any hope that things would be better if he is elected to serve. The only thing he has offered to date has been personal and professional attacks on Mike Sodrel, George Bush and the entire Republican agenda. Mike Sodrel on the other hand has shown leadership, direction and intelligence in his short time in office. He has shown that he has the ability to get things done and has been truly effective at representing the citizens of his district.

In the HT's endorsement they coincidentally managed to hit on every single one of Hill’s talking points. They even bought into excuse that Hill uses when he is asked why he voted for the war while serving in Congress. Hill and other Democrat talking heads continually spew the line that they were lied to. In other words a Congressman that doesn’t have the backbone to stand up for what everyone believed to be true at the time when he represented us. If he is so sure that he has what it takes to represent us why he is so ashamed of his past voting record? I think we would all like to have the luxury to recall our decisions but that is the very reason we elect people to represent us, they have to make tough decisions and then we expect them to defend their choices. I would like to have the assurance that all elected officials are making the best-informed decisions they possibly can with the information available to them at the time and then I want them to defend their position with credible facts and data. The fact that Hill doesn’t want to be held accountable for his voting record not only on the war but on several issues is reason enough for me to discount him as a viable candidate for such an important position and proves that he has absolutely no credibility.

Excuse me if I don’t feel that HT’s endorsement carries any validity. When a newspaper goes beyond reporting the news to making the news it looses its validity as an unbiased source of information. For the HT to weigh in with an opinion on something as important as a Congressional race without maintaining its objectivity it looses all credibility in my mind. Everyone should be disappointed that Bob Zaltsberg and crew cannot keep thier opinions to themselves. Why this small group feels compelled to attempt to sway the opinions of voters in a race that would be better served by simply providing fair, honest and complete reporting is a mystery to me. Unfortunately we have all been subjected to this type of journalism for far to long in Monroe County and that is why most people discount the HT as a credible newspaper. The only solace people can take in this is if the HT's past track record of endorsements is any indication of their prow ness in picking winners Mike Sodrel won’t have anything to worry about on election day.