Every once in awhile something appears in the Kansas City Star that is worthy of praise. Truly, it happens.
Today is not that day.
Today is the day the paper's Johnson County news magazine published a blazing, non-factual, personal attack on Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Shame on the Kansas City Star.
The Steve Rose screed is titled "Kris Kobach: So smart and so very, very dumb." By the title alone, it's obvious that the following 600-plus words will be filled with redemption and truth. Oh wait...
The column starts by calling Kobach dumb and a few paragraphs later, "incredibly stupid." (Will the wonders of the Thesaurus never cease?!!)
Kobach, the piece intones, has a bloated ego, pomposity that gets in the way of judgment, is opposed to illegal immigration, is blinded by his own prejudices, is unbelievably ambitious and is willing to step on anyone or stoop to low levels to raise his own profile.
To wit, Kobach "hides behind his Ivy-league background... his constitutional-law credits... his Hollywood good looks."
What facts are used to justify the hate-filled scribblings of Steve Rose, the legacy-has-been?
None. That's correct. None. There are no facts, no stories of such behavior to underscore Rose's suppositions.
(I'll note that mentions of his Ivy-league background and his Hollywood good looks are the closest this rage-induced diatribe comes to factual.)
Granted, this is an opinion piece. (To the Star's detriment, that fact isn't mentioned anywhere on the internet page where the column appears.) Political pundits should be given some latitude. There's a difference between opinion and fact. That said, in a newspaper with a storied history like the Star, I expect a little better than bitter tirades with absolutely zilch to back it up.
I can't believe they ran that.
No comments:
Post a Comment