17 September 2002

KFYI vs. The Arizona Republic

On Monday, KFYI Charles Goyette berated the Arizona Republic as one of his talking points. He spent considerable time decrying an article on the economic effects of Gulf War II and took the local paper to task for a post-mortem election editorial blurb. As usual, his spin machinations were throttling in full cycle. First, let's look at his outrage over the AZ Republic editorial commentary on Jaime Molera's defeat. For those who've no doubt discarded Monday's paper already, here is the text from that "controversial" op-ed:

A close second on the disappointment scale was the poor showing by Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Jaime Molera. Perhaps this race was about money, which self-financed Tom Horne had in bucketsful. More darkly, it also raises questions about the willingness of Republicans to elect anyone but Anglos.

It seems Goyette and others loyal to his persuasion take issue with the suggestion that racism might be a factor in the voting. And he alluded to past history - the governorship of Raul Castro in the 1970's. Well, first off Castro was a Democrat, not Republican. It was also a different era, a time soon after civil rights and desegregation and it was before the resurgent tide of Social Darwinism that has engulfed many in a state of increased intolerance. I think it's a stretch to compare a successful Democrat in the 1970's to a Republican in 2002. Next, the argument was made that the AZ Republic's verbiage was ludicrous, considering that Molera received more votes in his race for Superintendent of Public Instruction than Alfredo Gutierrez received in the Democratic gubernatorial primary - Molera received 30% of the Republican vote in his race while Gutierrez nabbed 23% of the Democrat vote in his bid. Sorry, but it's shabby comparison as Molera was the incumbent and received the endorsements of most all the top Republican legislators - Bob Stump, John Shadegg, Jon Kyl, JD Hayworth and Jeff Flake. Gutierrez had been absent from the political spotlight for some time, and was not considered a automatic Hispanic favorite. Raul Castro supported Napolitano.

No, this doesn't definitively set the case of a ground swell of Republicans eschewing minority candidates. But it does evince that the question is still a valid one.

Now, onto the blistering of an article on economic impact of an Iraq attack ...

I couldn't find the article posted up at the Arizona Republic online site, but I remember reading and thinking some of the same things the KFYI afternoon host pontificated upon. (But I do find it risible that callers and extremists brand Gannett and the AZ Republic as "liberal" when they are one of the staunchest anti-labor, anti-union news organizations ever in existence). The story was vague on sources and basically was void of conclusions or any informative substance. However, it appears to be a cut and paste job from one of the news services - I haven't been able to identify whether it is the LA Times or one of the wire services, but it definitely wasn't the work of the AZ Republic. And if you read further into the text of the full article that I believe the AZ Republic chopped off, it cites the "experts" as economists from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Merrill Lynch, a senior economist from economy.com, a vice president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation and a former chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Goytette railed on and on about the "anonymous" experts. If you want to chastize the editors for butchering a news service release, well, fine, but it's not a reflection on the reporting of the AZ Republic reporting staff.

Of course, it wouldn't be the first time that a KFYI host slanted the story and omitted facts in interest of a indignant spiel ...

Comments

FYI: Goyette is at best left of center...which is not good. Conservatives are winning the war on liberalism. Recognize it! Why do you suppose he is now the 7pm slot.