The Oregonian suck-up to Gordon Smith

In the Oregonian today, the editorial writers gushed absurdly over Gordon Smith's latest "really! I'm a moderate!" scam.

Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith burnished his credentials this week as a leading Republican voice against dismantling the nation's health-care safety net. ... Smith, though, is the one feeling all the heat, as he's bucking the top dogs of his own party. ... It's a worthy fight, though, and exactly the kind of leadership Oregonians hoped for when they sent Smith to Washington. Americans in every corner of the country should wish him well.

Sid over at New Frames has the progressive response:

Sure, he's come out against the proposed 50 billion dollars in draconian cuts from the House's budget plan, but the fact is there are still cuts in the Senate version, as in 10 billion dollars of them. In the meantime, Senator Smith refuses to roll back any of the tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. No fuzzy math here: 10 billion in cuts to Medicaid and food stamps + continued tax cuts for millionaires = right wing conservatism.

Simply put, this is a dog and pony show put together by the GOP leadership for the small handful of threatened Republican Senators in blue states. It's all prescripted and preplanned so that faux moderate Republican Senators, like Smith, can pretend to be standing up for the working poor. It's a ploy to fool and pull the wool over our eyes, and the O is a willing contributor to the show.

Head on over to New Frames and read the rest. Discuss over there.

Dec. 02, 2005 Posted in elsewhere.