Democrats have a friend in The Plain Dealer.
Cleveland’s establishment newspaper has morphed into the Buckeye State’s PR Branch for the Democratic Party.
One of the latest examples is an editorial by Brent Larkin dragging U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) through the mud along with President Donald Trump with no attempt to sound bi-partisan. His editorial is available here.
He wrote:
Of all the regions in all the states in all the country, Jim Jordan got dragged into ours. There was no good reason to punish Greater Cleveland by making the person who’s now the second most contemptible human being in the entire U.S. government part of the region’s delegation to Congress. Worse yet, the betrayal was bipartisan.
Larkin also wrote:
When Jordan slithers out from under his rock each morning, dons a shirt and tie – sans the jacket, lest he be mistaken for Joe McCarthy – his life’s work is to besmirch everything America stands for in service of Donald Trump.
Larkin’s temper-tantrum treatise captured the attention of Fox News, which reported on the retired editorial director’s tirade. Fox News also reported on the support Jordan is drawing from conservatives.
“Now he’s in a leadership position,” Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., told The Washington Post, “and the heavy yoke of leadership has moored him into the team in a very constructive way.”
“There has been no greater supporter of President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda or greater defender from these left-wing attacks than Jim Jordan,” added David Bossie, president of Citizens United. “And the president recognizes fighters when he sees one.”
Going all-in for Democrats is nothing new for Larkin.
In 2004, a majority of The Plain Dealer’s editorial board voted to endorse John Kerry against incumbent President George W. Bush in the presidential election, Salon reported. Publisher Alex Machaske was accused of interfering with that vote, and the newspaper was going to endorse Bush. Then Larkin stepped in.
But according to sources at the paper, longtime editorial page editor Brent Larkin stepped in to stop the Bush endorsement. As one reporter at the Plain Dealer put it, “Larkin made a Herculean effort to move it from a pro-Bush to a no endorsement. [It] must have taken a lot to back the publisher down. That’s considered a huge victory.”
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Plean Dealer Headquarters” by The Plain Dealer.
