Asbury Park Press Editorial Board Needs A Fact Checker

In their editorial posted last evening, the Asbury Park Press Editorial Board The Neptune Nudniks lecture New York City voters on character and morality.

As if they are an authority on character and morality and have readers from New York!  Maybe they are hoping some bennies here for the weekend will read their paper instead of Greg’s List.

The Nudnik’s homily bemoans the fact that former Congressman Anthony Weiner and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer are doing very well in the polls in their campaigns for municipal office in New York.

Is this the best New York Democrats can offer voters? Sadly, maybe it is. Weiner is tied or leading in polls to become his party’s nominee for mayor. Spitzer already has a double-digit polling lead.

It is as if the question of what matters more, character or competence, is an either/or question. It is not. Character and competence should not be at odds.

America, many are fond of saying, is both the land of second chances and full of people with forgiving hearts. True enough. Redemption is possible, but it should be accompanied by true contrition, and absenting oneself from the public eye for an appropriate time.

Today’s politicians, so driven by private lusts and the lust for political power, simply can’t stay away. “Here we are,” they say. “Vote for us anyway.”

That’s not a bad sentiment.  Is this the best Democrats, or Republicans for that matter, have to offer is the question that has me thinking that former Governor Jim McGreevey will be back in high office, despite his protestations to the contrary.  When I look ahead to 2017 when Governor Christie’s replacement will be elected, assuming Christie is reelected this November, McGreevey has to be considered a contender.  But that is a subject for another day.  This post is about the gross incompetence of the Asbury Park Press Editorial Board The Neptune Nudniks.

In making their case for how low voters standards have become, the Nudniks bring us back to the 1996 Presidential Election and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.

Perhaps this new paradigm of cheap grace began with Bill Clinton, former philanderer in chief. When his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky came to light, the nation was shocked, disappointed and even disgusted. Still, the country promptly re-elected him to a second term. (Emphasis added)

No, Nudniks, the country did not elect Clinton to a second term despite our shock, disappointment and disgust with adulterous felatio, debates over the definition of “is” and dresses bought at The Gap in the Oval Office.  The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal did not become public until almost a full year after Clinton’s second inauguration.   On January 17, 1998, Drudge knocked the mainstream media on its ass by reporting that Newsweek editors were suppressing an investigative report by Michael Isikoff that would have exposed the affair. The Washington Post reported the story four days later. Nine days after Drudge reported the story, Clinton stood up and told the world , “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” The following day, Hillary Clinton went on the Today show and blamed a “vast right-wing conspiracy” for trying to take down her husband’s presidency.

It took me less than a minute to find the facts in the above paragraph and another 5 minutes to verify them with multiple credible sources.  This Internet thing that Al Gore invented is an amazing thing. The Nudniks should learn how to use it.

Earlier this week, the Nudniks published a factually inaccurate editorial that impugned the integrity of Middletown Township Committeeman Tony Fiore and Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson.

We need to demand better of Gannett.  Monmouth and Ocean County residents need a credible news source and the credible leadership that a good editorial board should provide its readership.

If our incumbent candidates, legislators, freeholders, sheriff and their opponents took a stand for journalistic standards and integrity by refusing the participate in the Nudniks’ annual pre-endorsement debates, they would be showing the kind of political courage and integrity that Chris Christie demonstrated during his 2009 campaign for governor when he refused to meet with the NJEA’s leadership prior to their endorsement.

Monmouth Republican Chairman John Bennett and Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal could demonstrate their character and give their possibly less than courageous candidates cover, if they suggested their candidates skip this falls Editorial Board meeting.

 

Posted: July 13th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Asbury Park Press, Neptune Nudniks, NJ Media, Opinion | Tags: Anthony Weiner, Asbury Park Press, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Fire the Asbury Park Press Editorial Board, Jim McGreevey, Judge Lawrence M. Lawson, Monica Lewinsky, Neptune Nudniks, Tony Fiore | 6 Comments »

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