WashingTone-Locian Wrote:
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> Hey, dumbass. Robert McCartney is a columnist for
> the Washington Post. He's not the editorial board.
> The Washington Post has not endorsed the Tea Party
> movement. Claiming that what McCartney wrote is an
> endorsement is like claiming that anything George
> Will or Richard Cohen write is a Washington Post
> endorsement.
Whether you consider it an epiphany or gradual acceptance of the tea party movement, the fact that Robert McCartney wrote such an eyewitness account of an anti-tax movement is significant. Actually, raising taxes is sort of an idee fixe for McCartney. After 27 years shaping the local news coverage at the Post as a writer and editor, he became a columnist in June 2009. Since then, he’s written many times about the urgency of raising taxes: Converting Fairfax County into a city only makes sense ”if it’s used to raise taxes to get more money for roads.” (July 5) Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds should just be honest and “Propose to raise taxes to fix the roads. Yes, you read that correctly. Raise taxes” because “The public sector needs to expand.” (August 9) “Deeds is willing to raise taxes for transportation, while McDonnell isn’t, and some kind of tax increase is the only way to do the job.” (September 18) One observer of Gov. Robert McDonnell’s inaugural address (whattaya know, Deeds’s willingness to raise taxes yielded him a whopping 41 percent of the vote) “predicted that McDonnell would have to raise taxes to pay for transportation despite promises not to do so. ‘There is no other choice,’ Bhandari said.” (January 17) The region must come up with another $850 million a year in revenue for its costly, poorly run subway system. (January 21)
That Robert McCartney sees no evil in the tea party movement is significant indeed. While he does not currently sit on the editorial board (see
http://www.washpost.com/news_ed/editorial/editboard.shtml) he is also not on the op-ed staff (see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/writers/index.html?). However, he does have the ear of both of these groups.
Evolutionary or revolutionary, the Post's position on the tea party movement is positive.