This Is Just Ridiculous !

Every year, the website of the Amarillo Globe News does a survey. The survey asks the citizens of this Panhandle city to vote for the "Best of Amarillo" in a variety of categories. One of those categories is food, and one of the sub-categories of food is where you can find the best chili. Since one of my favorite foods is chili, I immediately checked this out -- and I was shocked to see the restaurant voted as having the best chili.

The people who voted in this survey picked Wendy's as the best place to get chili. What's wrong with that? Wendy's doesn't even sell real chili! They do have an edible bean soup (which has meat and chili powder in it), and they list that on their menu as chili. But any real Texan can tell you that chili doesn't have beans in it. In fact, if you put beans in your chili at any respectable chili cook-off anywhere in the state, you would be justifiably disqualified.

I simply don't understand this. Either the poll was dominated by out-of-state transplants who don't know anything about chili, or we have a lot of village idiots in this city (a definite possibility, considering the city's voting patterns). Come on people. Wendy's? Really?

Globe News Makes Shocking Endorsement

The Amarillo Globe News is one of the most right-wing newspapers in Texas (and probably the nation as well).   They have a long history of supporting right-wing candidates for office, and this year is no different.   They had already endorsed many right-wing Republican candidates in this election including, David Dewhurst for Lt. Governor, Greg Abbott for Attorney General, Todd Staples for Agriculture Commissioner, Jerry Patterson for Land Commissioner, Susan Combs for State Comptroller, Mac Thornberry for District 13 U.S. Representative, and Walter Price for District 87 State Representative.  

They've also endorsed all three Republicans running for the Texas Supreme Court and the three Republicans running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.   That's why the editorial endorsement made by the newspaper yesterday came as somewhat a shock.   They actually endorsed a Democrat -- albeit a corporate conservative Blue Dog Democrat.   The Amarillo Globe News has endorsed Bill White for governor.

Here is some of what the newspaper had to say about their endorsement:

"Change often doesn't come easily in a political system that usually rewards incumbency, seniority and a stubborn adherence to conventional wisdom.


Texas, however, is ripe for change at the top of its government ladder.


Bill White, thus, has earned the chance to govern a state in flux.


White, the Democratic nominee for governor, has more than earned his spurs as a public official.


Bill White was a successful three-term mayor of Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city; he served the Clinton administration as a deputy energy secretary, acquiring a good body of knowledge of a project near to the conscience of the Panhandle, Pantex; he built a successful energy company and was a skilled lawyer in private practice.


White's background, experience, political instincts and temperament all have prepared him well for the governorship.


It's instructive that White has collected support in the Panhandle from key Republican movers and shakers. Imagine that. This solidly Republican region of a solidly Republican state has several key leaders expressing their support for the Democratic nominee for governor.


But the former Houston mayor is no squishy liberal who is anathema to Panhandle conservatives. He is a pragmatic, pro-business bridge-builder with a demonstrated ability to work with Republicans."


I have been saying for a while now that Bill White is not really very different from the slate of corporate-owned conservatives the Republican Party is running.   I think this proves my point.   If White had any progressive credentials at all, he would never have received this endorsement.

Amarillo's Republican Newspaper

There are several Texas newspapers that are slanted to one political view or the other. But you usually don't realize it until you get to the editorial page. They try to do their news fairly, and keep their personal or company views in the editorial section. I don't mind that too much, because I can still get most of the news about both political parties. If I don't like the paper's political slant, I can just avoid the editorial section.

But the Amarillo Globe News doesn't do it that way. Their decidedly right-wing Republican slant is obvious even on what they "call" the news pages. Yesterday's paper was a reminder of this.

A few weeks ago, Tom Schieffer, an official candidate for governor in the Democratic Party, came to Amarillo to campaign. Three television stations, the Amarillo Independent (weekly) newspaper and this blog covered his appearance. But where was Amarillo's only daily newspaper? They were missing.

I was flabbergasted that the community's only daily newspaper could completely ignore the visit of a viable gubernatorial candidate, but they did. They obviously don't believe in providing both sides of a story to their readers -- only the right-wing side.

This was brought home again yesterday. Another gubernatorial candidate came to Amarillo to campaign -- Kay Bailey Hutchinson. The only difference is she's a right-wing Republican. You can bet they did not ignore Ms. Hutchison's visit! They sent both a reporter and a photographer, and there was a very nice write-up in the paper.

I hate being ashamed of my hometown newspaper, but what else can I be when they are so obvious about their bias?