DUers help choose op ed columnists for SW OH newspaper

[roseBudd]

The Cincinnati Enquirer is asking for feedback on which syndicated op ed columnists to run. Last year this was only done via snail mail and the results were predictably conservative. This is my paper and I am so sick of Krauthaumer and Kathleen Parker. And Walter Williams and Jeff Jacoby.

If you are not a SW OH DUer use an email addy that does not reveal your geographic location and throw in things like, I live in Mason, West Chester, Deerfield Township, Hyde Park, Indian Hill, Oakley, Norwood, Anderson Township or Clifton for authenticity.

Today's Forum cover is an effort to get your feedback on the writings of the syndicated columnists whose opinions we share with you every day. We offer a wide range of views with these writers - conservative, liberal and every nuance in between. We don't always agree with everything they all say and we know that you don't either. But a goal of these pages is to offer the free exchange of ideas, to provoke insight and debate, and to maybe, just maybe, get you to see the other side of an argument.

snip

One of the nation's most popular columnists, William Safire, is retiring in February. The New York Times columnist has been a staple on our Opinions page for many years and enjoys a strong following in Cincinnati. We are interested in who you think should replace this conservative Pulitzer Prize-winner. Another Pulitzer Prize-winner, who appeared occasionally, Norman Lockman of the Wilmington News Journal, also is retiring.

This week we also decided to drop Armstrong Williams from the Enquirer, after it was revealed he had an undisclosed $240,000 contract with the Bush administration to plug the No Child Left Behind education program in his columns and on his television show. His failure to disclose that connection was an intolerable ethical breach.

snip

Now we want to hear from your. Look at the list of 21 regular columnists on this page, and tell us your three favorites and three least favorite. If there is someone you'd like to see who is not on the list, tell us that too.




http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050109/EDIT03/501090348

[Helga Scow Stern]

1. Glad to see you are still here. : )

Which columnists would you suggest?

[roseBudd]

4. Leonard Pitts, Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Richard Cohen

I am sure there are others.

[slor]

2. Does Al Franken write a column?

He would be my main choice. Actually, who else is out there that would be good? This damn paper needs a no-nonsense shift to the Left, that is for sure.

[Helga Scow Stern]

3. Dowd, Kristoff, Friedman?

[roseBudd]

5. The ones that need to go are Krauthaumer, Jacoby, Walter Williams

I do like William Raspberry also

[ohtransplant]

6. Done!

I also suggested circulation would improve if they were more balanced on the editorial page.

[roseBudd]

7. Believe it or not they just endorsed Gonzales today...

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050110/EDIT01/501100304

Gonzales fit for confirmation
Editorials

Attempts by President Bush's foes to paint his attorney general nominee, Alberto Gonzales, as the father of Abu Ghraib abuses have been ludicrous and despicable. But his nomination hearings will serve the nation if they produce a rational debate on the definition and use of torture.


snip

At issue have been memos Gonzales reviewed or helped write in 2002 as White House counsel. One argued that terrorists captured overseas do not automatically qualify for the Geneva Conventions' prisoner protections. Another argued that the definition of torture should be narrowed to "excruciating and agonizing pain."

Consider the memos' context, not long after the Sept. 11 attacks. Our leaders, burned by al-Qaida's airliners-as-bombs attack, were under a mandate to think the unthinkable and consider all possibilities.

The Geneva Conventions memo was a narrowly framed document, not about Iraqi prisoners but about al-Qaida, which of course is not a signatory to the conventions. It was a closed, internal document that only a few people saw until after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke.

snip

[ohtransplant]

9. Their logic is incredible!

as was his.

I'm all for vigorous intelligence gathering but this is just plain stupid.

Our military and intelligence apparatus obviously saw these memos as an endorsement of the kinds of things that went on at Abu Ghraib and other places. Why wouldn't they?

Gonzales, et al, have served * poorly. Both are severely tainted as a result. Our Executive branch no longer has the plausible deniability needed by a President. The behavior described in the memos has been endorsed at the highest levels. Sadly there will be a price to pay by American citizens.

When Americans are tortured in similar fashion - and regrettably, it will happen eventually, only then will this hit home.

I'm not sure I can endure four more years of this...

[kitkat65]

13. And it does nothing to stop terrorism! Quite the opposite.

I have no doubt that the Islamic extremists who hear of torture against their people are going to go APESHIT and give them more ammo for recruiting new terrorists.

Ugh!

[McCamy Taylor]

8. Pitts and Krugman

[Helga Scow Stern]

10. Done. n/t

[roseBudd]

11. Bob Herbert is good too n/t

[roseBudd]

12. Also complain about Peter Bronson being moved to the syndicated op ed

spot. This means there will be 3 less syndicated columnists per week.

[ClassWarrior]

14. I asked for Krugman, Raspberry, and Conason.

I told 'em I don't like the three you dislike, rosebud.

NGU.