At Least the Express-News is in the Majority on Something
I know I should just get over it but I thought the following was such a concise indictment against the San Antonio Express-News endorsement of Bonilla in the run-off election.
TIME.com: How the G.O.P. Got Blindsided in Texas — Page 1
In a region where “government is the economy,” Hernandez said, Bonilla had been able to parlay his seat on the appropriations committee into a sizable campaign war chest and a powerful platform. The district stretches from El Paso east to San Antonio and south to the Mexican border, embracing several cities with large military bases and poor, rural counties where federal programs are vital. But once the power shifted away from Republicans in the House, in Hernandez’s view, independent voters pragmatically voted for Rodriguez.
Let’s see, the San Antonio Express News got the first part and that was basically it’s justification for endorsing Bonilla. However, according to this analysis, it looks like that the majority of the voters in CD 23 got the idea of the implications of the power shift and voted for Rodriguez. Somehow, the Express-News missed the power change.
The Express-News could justify it’s pathetic endorsement for the November election. But if its endorsement was based on serving the best interests of the district pragmatism, there is absolutely no way to justify it’s second endorsement of Bonilla. By then, the Democrats were firmly in control of the House. What was pragmatic about continuing to support Bonilla at that point?
Furthermore, the Express-News justified it’s position despite Bonilla’s track record by “hoping he will be better in the future.” In other words, he could stop misbehaving. Yet, the Express-News seems unable to believe that Rodriguez might take a different tack once in office.
And on the issues that Rodriguez does manage to define himself, his position is detrimental to the district. When Rodriguez flogs free trade and the elimination of barriers to commerce and finance, he’s undermining a $1.2 billion investment by Toyota and the creation of 4,100 jobs in his district.
Except Rodriguez doesn’t have a track record of being against the creation of jobs in his district by foreign companies. Rodriguez would be against Toyota establishing a manufacturing plant here and paying local taxes. I believe that the Express-News is hung about Rodriguez’s unwillingness to support China in the WTO and such. That is not the same thing as building a manufacturing plant in south San Antonio. Now how much is China investing in manufacturing in the United States anywhere?
And if Bonilla received a treasured seat on the Appropriations committee when he was first elected despite his lack of seniority, why couldn’t the Express-News imagine the same possibility for Rodriguez?
Why does this bother me so much? A couple years ago some researchers out of New Orleans found that the vast majority of the population will believe what they want to believe despite significant evidence to the contrary. Their study determined about only 15% of the population was willing to change their mind after being presented with concrete evidence. For some reason, I thought that a newspaper would fall into that 15% category. Silly me.
Technorati Tags: Henry Bonilla, Ciro Rodriguez, Bonilla, San Antonio Express News, Endorsements
Filed under: Bonilla, Ciro Rodriguez, Congressional District 23, District 23, Henry Bonilla, Runoff Election - December 12, San Antonio, San Antonio Express News, Texas District 23, run-off, runoff, texas, texas politics
