Democracy for Vancouver

With opinion writing like The Oregonian’s David Sarasohn, who needs conservative sites like Free Republic?:

HEAVY ISSUES

But there was one complication to the idea of a Gore campaign as an Oscar after-party. He was putting a little stress on the seams of that tuxedo.

In fact, he looked as if, as on his arctic trips to inspect global warming, Gore was identifying not with the polar bear but with the walrus. Compared with the Al Gore who appeared in “An Inconvenient Truth” — even though the camera is supposed to add weight — the former vice president looked to be expanding like a median annual temperature chart.

When people talk about Gore’s potential as a heavyweight candidate, they didn’t mean this.

Frontline’s excellent News War series points out the dramatic decline of newspapers’ ability to deliver real news. Instead, newspapers are under increasing pressure from the Wall Street suits to deliver infotainment. When your opinion page features such conservative torch bearers as Charles Krauthammer, you would think there’d be some attempt at balance. Instead, we get commentary more akin to the red carpet cattiness of Joan Rivers.

Oh, and David, judging from your picture on OregonLive, perhaps you yourself need a visit to Jenny Craig:

See how dumb this game is? Whether judging political leaders on their weight, or newspaper columnists, it’s all very crass.