Politician PR handout

It is literally amazing that you appear to be printing, without attribution, some PR handout from a politician, or something that must be very close to it (Oakland Confidential/March).

In your recent “Guru Speaks” (segment) in the Oakland Confidential feature that I received in my email box, I was treated to a glowing tribute to Elissa Slotkin, a minor Democratic party pol from Rochester, for supporting a routine Democrat bill that attempts to, no surprise, swing some electoral advantage to her party in the guise of what she might call, with a straight face, “good government” election and ethics laws. These types of changes have frequently been proposed by both parties, depending on how they might advantage them, and are always couched in terms of patriotic fervor to hide their more truthful agendas. No big deal there, like “dog bites man.”

The kicker is, and the clue to the dishonesty that pretends this is news, rather than a mere press release, or some otherwise shameless cheerleading, is that the whole basis for even mentioning this is rooted in the description of the original author of the praise of Slotkin – Joe Scarborough. Using the straw man of Scarborough as “one of the country’s most influential Republicans,” the Guru (or whoever is the original author of this piece) attempts to sprinkle a patina of dramatic bi-partisanship on Slotkin and her addition to the bill, basically a not so subtle way of keeping alive public attention to the Trump-Russia collusion narrative so loved by the main street media.

Scarborough has not really supported the Republican party or any members of it – other than those who have in some way denounced Trump – for many years, and if one could possibly infer his political leanings, they would certainly lie in the current Democratic party ballpark. His new wife and co-star is, and always has been, an extremely partisan Democrat, and he always agrees with her all of her on-air proclamations. He has been one of the loudest, most persistent, and virulently anti-Trump haters in the MSM.

As with Trump, his hatred of the Republican party as it now exists has followed, as much as night into day. Therefore, proclaiming bi-partisan bona fides, in an obvious attempt to gain trust among local Republicans, by quoting Joe Scarborough is, at best, laughable, and leads me to believe that this is merely a regurgitated PR release from her office.

Please try to do much better than this if you wish to really “report” on politics.

David Franklin

(Publisher’s note: No press release from Slotkin or anyone else. Just an observation about what transpired on the Morning Joe show with Joe Scarborough.)