I’ve been meaning to tear into Danny Westneat for his credulous puff piece on the state senate Republican majority, but haven’t had the time. Fortunately, Bill Lyne at the United Faculty of Washington State blog has done it for me:
On [higher education], he’s convinced that “the Republicans blew the Democrats out of the water. The GOP,” he tells us, “is proposing to slash tuition but at the same time send tens of millions of dollars to the universities to make up the difference.” Representative Hunter said the same thing about this that we here at the blog tried to say to Westneat the last time he slobbered over the Republican tuition proposal: It’s not true. The Republicans say they provide enough money to cover the tuition cut, but the cold, hard numbers in their budget say they do not. Go read it, Danny. Better yet, call the university budget offices and see what they say. The Republican rhetoric on tuition sounds great, but the gap between that rhetoric and the reality of their budget would leave lots of students actually paying more in tuition because it would take them longer to get their degrees.
Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.
As for Westneat, well, sigh. I know he likes to think of himself as an independent voice adrift in a sea of partisan bickering—an equal opportunity eye-roller, or something. But more often than not, he’s just part of the problem, cynically working to erode the public’s faith in government rather than working to offer and advance creative solutions.
Which is a shame, because Westneat has both the talent and the platform to make a difference.
Westneat has to be “non-partisan” so his boss can sell more papers and charge higher ad rates, so don’t expect him to call out Republicans for what they are: Greedy lying manipulators who care about nothing except their own wealth, and to that end, their sole interest in politics and public policy is eliminating government regulation of their businesses and taxes on themselves. They don’t give a damn about students or universities, and anyone with an ounce of brains already knows that. We don’t have to be told.
I’m sure that anyone who is not a progressive is viewed by progressives as far right on the political spectrum.
For those who think there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans, I’ll tell you what the difference is: Republicans will sell out the non-1% every time. Democrats, only about 35-40% of the time. That’s why I’m a Democrat. The odds are in my favor.