Washington Post sides with McDonnell on charter schools

If the editors of the Washington Post intend to issue their usual endorsement of Virginia Democrats this fall, they’re pulling one heck of a misdirection.  Just over a month after they warmly endorsed Creigh Deeds to be nominated by the Democrats, they criticize him (justifiably) for his weakness on educational choice and praise Bob McDonnell for his “full-throated support of charter schools.”  They even go so far as to label McDonnell’s “favoring ways to give parents more of a choice in their children’s schooling” as “reform-minded” (typical center-left reaction to educational choice is to go into apoplexy).

I agree with TQ Norm‘s skepticism about the Post actually going for McDonnell (the paper hasn’t endorsed a statewide Republican for office since Mark Earler’y AG race in 1997), but it will certainly make any Post endorsement for the Democrats much weaker.

The Washington Post jumps the shark (FURTHER UPDATED)

The quasi-official newspaper of the national capital’s elite dropped the quasi (and all pretense of ever speaking truth to power, as it were) with this bombshell (Politico):

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”

The offer — which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters — is a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival. 

Among other things, this offer basically makes the Post dependent upon the Administration (and other politicians) for revenue.  Keep that in mind any time you read the Post – especially if the paper and the politicians go through with this.

For a while, I actually thought the Post would be one of the few newspapers to survive, but this could easily kill it.

UPDATE: Apparently, the news department of the Post has put the kibosh on any reporters showing up for this little farce (Politics Daily), which is fine as far as it goes, but it still doesn’t absolve the paper from being dependent upon the people it is covering for revenue and profit.  Thus, the ethical storm cloud does not go away.

FURTHER UPDATE: Never mind, the Post has wisely chosen to drop the whole thing , but that they were even willing to consider it is a terrible stain on the paper.

GOP back in front on Congressional ballot

Rasmussen has the details. Keep in mind the time-frame for this survey (June 12-28) encompassed both the Ensign and Sanford scandals.

Truth be told, the lead has changed hands four times since March, so effectively the parties are even, but that’s a dramatic change from the nine-point edge the Democrats had on Election Day 2008.