Second coming continued

The editorial staff at the Courier Times should be given a prize for the most concentrated effort ever to get their prince charming elected. In a post on Wednesday, I asked, “Can we expect an endorsement every time [Mike] Fitzpatrick opens his mouth?” Apparently the answer is yes.

Today he even got a twofer.

The thumbs up for today went to Fitzpatrick for issuing “a term-limit pledge this week. If he bests his GOP competitors in the primary and goes on to defeat Democratic incumbent Congressman Patrick Murphy in the fall, Fitzpatrick promised to serve only four terms or eight years. And since he already served one term, before losing to Murphy in 2006, the ex-congressman said he'd only serve three terms.”

This editor should come down from his ivory tower. Since I was a cub reporter for The Bulletin in 1974, I have seen one congressional candidate after another promise to limit their terms to four if the oust the incumbent. The only way I ever saw those promises kept was when they were kicked out of office before serving eight years. Fitzpatrick is so power hungry (more about this in coming posts) that there is no way he will keep this promise.

While praising their pretty boy, the Courier gave a thumbs down “to Congressman Patrick Murphy for his petty griping to a business group that some stories involving him have appeared on the inside pages of the newspaper rather than Page 1.” Maybe they should do a count on the number of times Fitzpatrick’s fluff makes it to at least Page 1 of the local news section.

Maybe the real problem is they have their noses out of joint because Murphy doesn’t jump up and salute when they call on him. They note in this thumbs down – and this is so unprofessional it defies imagination – that “It would be both responsible and accountable of the congressman to actually return calls from the newspaper rather than charging his communications director with that task - as he so often does.”

But wait, it is not enough that they have praised Fitzpatrick for what is basically an old political trick while blasting Murphy for valid criticism on the same day, but they go on to praise Fitzpatrick again in the thumbs down remarks on the Republican leaders’ assertion that they have a responsibility to endorse candidates.

Frankly, it is certainly fair to criticize this assertion – on its merits. But that isn’t enough for the Courier. The writer goes on to note: “Republican congressional candidate Mike Fitzpatrick, probably the party's biggest name, made the endorsement process an issue when he asked the bosses to stay on the sidelines. That got our endorsement as well as all lot of voters.”

This lack of professionalism and transparent bias is beyond comprehension. But then, they own the ink.