Brawler also spelled out how foolish the right can be, especially in an election year.
Now, Mike Plaisted joins in the fray:
It’s been about three years now since the Journal Sentinel elevated copy editor Patrick McIlheran to a newly-created Wing-Nut Columnist chair. Apparently, the powers-that-be at the J-S felt Wisconsin was just not getting enough of the GOP-driven right-wing echo-chamber message through its radio station and decided to give Paddy Mac a show of his own on the op-ed page.
Since then, there being no lefty alternative in the paper, McIlheran has been free and unchallenged to spread the gospel of Rove and consort with the usual suspects to produce the written version of wing-nut radio, waving the J-S imprimatur and circulation numbers (such as they are) like a bludgeon to smite all uppity challengers to right-wing orthodoxy. It gives the right-wing another pillar to bounce off of – Sykes cites to McIlheran, McIlheran to McBride, McBride to McIlheran, etc. – as the nut-right seeks false legitimacy through the sheer repetition of its message in various forums. McIlheran's most recent campaign was fighting for the right of doctors to deny rape victims a reasonable way to avoid the most unwanted of pregnancies. Woman-as-incubator apparently plays well with the base. Brave stuff, this.
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McIlheran also has issues with the idea of "smart" anything. Smart cars, smart growth, smart budgeting – enough! Give him Dumb any day over this thinking so much brain hurt. "Sustainable" is for suckers; "speaking-out" for the pretend-victim. Concepts like "modern" and "progress"? Only for the deluded or the city planner, apparently. Progressives want to "party like it’s 1899," he says, obviously upset with the end of the Spanish-American war.
You can read the whole post here.
Not that the Sentinel was a legitimate news organization to begin with, but its final corruption was the elevation to a columnist of an autodidact without any reporting experience whose insecurities and ignorance are writ large in his prose. It would be one thing if his bizarreness amounted to something interesting to read, in the same way that a multi-colored boil can generate interest. Instead, his positions predictably tow the Bush administration/Bradley Foundation line with the precision of a Swiss watch (though without the elegance). This douchebag does not reflect the morals or traditions of Milwaukee or the church he pretends to defend. In the end, he's just a milquetoast with a thesaurus compensating for the unfortunate hand genetics dealt him.
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