What does a blogger have to do to get some attention for the good things he’s doing these days?
Yesterday I submitted a blog posting here that took a critical look at the Chicago Tribune endorsing Barack Obama over John McCain for president. For the first time in its history, the Trib is backing a Democratic nominee. There have only been two times when “the Republican voice of the Midwest” has not supported the GOP candidate for president (Horace Greeley over Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt over William Howard Taft).
The Trib cited how the Republican Party has strayed from its principles in the last eight years and how McCain has turned his back on many of the initiatives he championed in his 2000 presidential bid. Fair enough.
But for a publication with a history of backing Republican values, I thought the Trib was tossing its traditions overboard. One argument the paper could have made in backing McCain is that the divided government we had for most of former President Bill Clinton’s time in office served the nation well. The Democrats may increase their majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and with a president from the same party there would be little in the way of a check and balance.
I thought this was a pretty astute observation on my part and I shared it with Dave Diefsen of Wheaton, editor of the Web site GOPUSA Illinois. This past week I’ve been challenging Diegsen to publicly justify his claim that G. Gordon Liddy shouldn’t be labeled a domestic terrorist along with the likes of William Ayers.
Diexsen claimed I was a promoter of Ayers and Obama (I have categorically denied this while once again demanding Dietsen provide proof of his claim), so I thought it would be good to show Diemsen that I was not the stereotypical left-wing journalist he probably thinks I am.
Sadly, Diebsen failed to mention my cogent analysis of the Trib’s endorsement on his Web site. Sure, Diedsen highlighted another posting I had yesterday in which I once again challenged him to substantialte his charges. But there was nothing about my take on the Tribune endorsement.
I thought Diecsen would be happy that I took on the Trib’s editorial board for straying from its conservative tradition by backing Obama. I’m not sure what Diensen wants from me, but I’m going to keep trying my best. I only hope that Diepsen one day appreciates that I’m trying to reach out and find common ground.