My letter to the Washington Post

[Nancy Waterman]

I just wrote a letter to the Ombudsman at the WPost. I was too angry to compose a letter to the editor.

Dear Ombudsman,

I have about had it with the Post. Who screens your editorial page and the letters printed on it? The Tea Party crowd? Each week they get more offensive. Have you forgotten that Montgomery County and PG County and DC are hugely Democratic? Are you on a suicide mission or do you just not notice the poison you spew on these pages week after week?

Just a few examples: there was the huge headline that blared across the top of the the Opinion section of the Sunday paper a few weeks ago that read something like Why Liberals are so Arrogant as if this is a given and we should just wonder why. Maybe if you had balanced it with something like Why Conservatives are so Stupid? No such luck.

Then there was the incredibly offensive article, also on the front page of the Opinion section, about how we all know that Obama is a complete loser as a president so why doesn’t he just resign and go to the Supreme Court. What is wrong with you people?

But today’s letter to the editor, that some moron decided was appropriate in the Washington Post, what used to be considered something more than a small-minded and vicious right-wing rag, takes the cake. I will quote it in full for you for full effect. If you are not offended, there is something wrong with you:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030503798.html

Michelle Obama isn’t in Elie Wiesel’s league of icons

Saturday, March 6, 2010

A caption on the front of the Feb. 26 Style section was insulting not only to Elie Wiesel but to all readers. It read: “Two Icons: Michelle Obama congratulates Elie Wiesel at a White House ceremony in which he received the National Humanities Medal.”

I recognize that this was the Style section, but how can you compare the truly iconic life of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who survived the Holocaust and devoted all of his life to making sure that we will never forget this unimaginable darkest moment of the 20th century, to someone most famous recently for planting a vegetable garden?

Let me be clear here. I am not an African American. I am not even a liberal, but more of a centrist Democrat. But First Lady Michele Obama is out in front of the cameras daily in order to enrich and support the lives of Americans in the best way she can. She is the first African American First Lady and has gotten a lot of heat, especially in the campaign, from the usual vicious detractors. She has had to deal with endless death threats sent to her family due to their very public position. For the Post to print this reprehensible letter is beyond the pale. I am very seriously considering canceling my subscription, after 25 years of reading it with my breakfast. If there were another local paper worth considering, I would cancel the Post today. I may just go to the internet and find my news if this kind of offensive blather continues to appear, week after week. Please tell your paper to wake up before it goes over a cliff. I am surely not the only one who feels this way.

[LiberalEsto]

1. The Post is right wing because

Big corporations advertise in it, to the tune of millions of dollars.

They don't give a damn about losing a few subscriptions from liberals.

I read the Post every day, and it has gotten much more offensively pro-corporate, pro-republican, pro-right wing in the past decade. There is not even a pretense of balance on the op-ed page. At this point I mainly read it for the funnies, advice columns and the local news.

[asjr]

2. What an absolutely beautiful letter!

[DCKit]

3. I haven't paid to read that rag in forever.

When they call about subscriptions, I ask them why I'd want to read Republican propaganda and tell the unfortunate person working to sell this trash that the Enquirer has far more credibility.

Why do you subject yourself to it? It's akin to listening to OxyRush and Beck (though I'm glad others do, so I don't have to). You've got a far stronger constitution than I do.

[Nancy Waterman]

4. I live in the DC area

and I like having a print paper, especially for local news, TV listings, etc. My husband likes the sports page. There is nothing else here. I have disagreed for years with what they put in the editorial pages and have fumed at the way they put irrelevant articles on the front page while giving short shrift to real substance. But the two articles I mentioned in my letter and the letter they posted today go further than disagreement about policies. The Post has taken on the sneering, obnoxious attitude of the right wing.

[madinmaryland]

11. I live in the DC area also. I read the Op/Eds from EJ Dionne and

Eugene Robinson. I can always tell when Fred Hiatt (sp?) has written the WaPo Editorial. The style of the prose is very similar to his actual op-eds.

I used to have the WaPo delivered (someone forgot to cancel their account, and we continued to receive it). Yeah, I like it for the local news and sports, and the daily crossword puzzle!

[activa8tr]

5. Good letter! I wonder if anyone there will print it. n/t

[Cha]

7. Excellent question.

[Cha]

6. Nancy, Thank you! If only there were more and more

letters like your's to the washed po ombudsman!

I'm thinking they don't even care how many Dems read their fish rag of a paper. How could they? They're not smart or they wouldn't go so "in your face insulting".

So appreciate your activism on this, Nancy!

[Nancy Waterman]

9. They crossed a line in today's letter

Cha - I don't think they even care anymore. Tomorrow morning will bring the Outlook section again. I dread to see what they come up with this week. My husband and I have agreed to drop our subscription if my letter has no impact (little chance of that, but who knows if they might not have to respond to a deluge after today).

[Cha]

10. It never hurts to try..especially

with a well written letter like your's, Nancy.

"Just a few examples: there was the huge headline that blared across the top of the the Opinion section of the Sunday paper a few weeks ago that read something like Why Liberals are so Arrogant as if this is a given and we should just wonder why. Maybe if you had balanced it with something like Why Conservatives are so Stupid? No such luck."

That's their insult..the wapo does not even attempt to balance the propaganda.

"Let me be clear here. I am not an African American. I am not even a liberal, but more of a centrist Democrat. But First Lady Michele Obama is out in front of the cameras daily in order to enrich and support the lives of Americans in the best way she can. She is the first African American First Lady and has gotten a lot of heat, especially in the campaign, from the usual vicious detractors. She has had to deal with endless death threats sent to her family due to their very public position. For the Post to print this reprehensible letter is beyond the pale. I am very seriously considering canceling my subscription, after 25 years of reading it with my breakfast. If there were another local paper worth considering, I would cancel the Post today. I may just go to the internet and find my news if this kind of offensive blather continues to appear, week after week. Please tell your paper to wake up before it goes over a cliff. I am surely not the only one who feels this way."

There are so many of us who feel this way..and it is very very frustrating for the corporatemedia to be a big vicious lie machine for the gops and we have to be at their mercy. Another reason your letter is so important..and anyone's who contacts the "media" with their objections to the Manipulation and Manufacturing of the "news".

[impik]

8. Terrific letter. Well done.