Democracy Dies in Darkness
Ann Telnaes cartoon on The Post not endorsing a presidential candidate.
By Ann Telnaes
October 25, 2024 at 6:21 p.m. EDT
Free to read link for the comments - the first 630 are overwhelmingly negative. Lots of cancelled subscriptions, and blaming Bezos for the decision. Which is correct. Although I will also blame the publisher Will Lewis, a former Murdoch employee. Who wrote, strongly implying that Richard Nixon was worse than Donald Trump, a view which seems ... blinkered at best... and I don't think even Herblock would agree with that viewpoint.
"... in 1976 for understandable reasons at the time, we changed this long-standing policy and endorsed Jimmy Carter as president. But we had it right before that, and this is what we are going back to."
 |
| https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement-president/ |
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to preserve the comments on Ann's cartoon if the Post decides to wipe them ex post facto. Dropping them into Word strips all the context, while still giving one 26 pages of random quotes.
Up to 715 comments in the time I took to write this...
The NY Times, which has its own problems with mealy-mouthedness covered the non-endorsement story.
Here's the comment I posted on her cartoon, which won't matter worth a damn, but...
Ann Telnaes is a friend of mine. You, Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis, are not Ann Telnaes, and you should be ashamed of your lack of moral standing. Lewis at least isn't an American, and can't vote in this election and can run home to post-Brexit UK's own failures, but you, Bezos? This country made you one of the richest men in the world, and you're helping sell it down the river, an apt analogy for someone who's moved to DC to make even more money. I write about local cartoonists, and here's my headline: Ann Telnaes calls out WaPo for cowardly refusal to endorse VP Harris over convicted felon
