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A Few Loose Ends

First let me congratulate, Joe Monahan on two counts. Yesterday, he slanted his post to favor Patricia Madrid from the title, The Debate: Madrid Dodges Knock-Out Punch on down through his “well-seasoned” analysis. But, he did finally let people know where he was coming from with a disclaimer:

The debate progressed from there with a myriad of questions–health care, education and Social Security–but blood oozed again near the end of the second half hour when mild-mannered anchorwoman Carla Aragon dropped a seemingly innocuous question on the order of: “What are the ethical implications of a politician accepting money from lobbyists and special interest groups and what do they get for that money?

“It is only to give them access,” fumbled Madrid as Heather went off to the races.

“I am amazed at what I just heard…Mrs. Madrid accepted $125,000 from a casino owner in southern New Mexico who has business pending in her office. No one buys access to my office,” emoted Heather as catcalls [from Madrid supporters and thundering applause from Heather Wilson supporters] decorated the airwaves from some of the 200 partisans invited to attend the event.

Heather has already worked this issue over with a ton of TV ads, but Madrid’s phrasing opened the door to renewed ethics questions, even if it is doubtful they will work any better than they already have. (FYI: I do PR work for Sunland Park Racetrack whose owner Wilson referred to.)

Good job on that disclaimer. My only suggestion is that in the future you consider making it a little earlier in your “unbiased” coverage. To Mr. Monahan’s credit, today he posted his readers comments. Two to one they support that Heather clearly won the debate. More significantly, almost everyone of Patricia Madrid’s supporters seems like they are trying to turn lemons into lemonade. Only one even tries to assert that Madrid won the debate. To this end, Mr. Monahan is forced to finish his post with the following:

I am grateful for such a great readership, and always look forward to hearing from you. I know I make my share of mistakes, but with all you “cyber-editors” out there, I never stay wrong for long.

Hmm, is that an admission that his analysis from the day before was competely off the mark? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say, “I was wrong yesterday. Heather Wilson clearly won the debate.”