From the Crawford Iconoclast (Bush's hometown paper):



Wow. Bush can't even get an endorsement from his hometown paper. Question for debate:

1) Will this hurt Bush?

2) If yes, how much?

I couldn't find a direct link to the Crawford Lone Star Iconoclast, but Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=6356211

Miami Herald, (registration)

https://registration.miami.com/reg/login.do...s%2F9781586.htm

and Voice of America

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectI...ategoryname=USA

have already picked it up.

1) Will this hurt Bush?"

Probably some.

2) If yes, how much?

That's hard to tell. I think the Crawford paper, though small and published only weekly, should be applauded for journalistic courage. I fact, I think the paper did a better job delineating the differences between Bush and Kerry than the Kerry campaign itself.

The question, yet to be answered, is if other papers will be inspired enough to follow suit. I'm waiting to see who the Fort Worth Star Telegram endorses, although I'm sure the more conservative Dallas Morning News will go for Bush

I'm sure this story will make it onto the national news tonight. If nothing else, it will be an embarrassment to Bush. I welcome anything that takes some of the swagger out of Bush's step and smirk off his face, even it it's just temporary.

Given Bush's tendency to take things personally, to draw things in "for me or against me" terms, I'm anticipating whatever, if any, response comes from the White House.

LOL

Umm I don't know how many of you realize this but the "The Lone Star Iconoclast" has a weekly circulation of 425.

Boy this is truly grasping.. are the polls making the dems so upset that they are reporting this as news??

I am going to give this a big SO WHAT... as I am sure most of you would do if a newspaper of this type circulation in Mass endorsed Bush.



425....

Sleeper,

You may be right. Twenty-five years from now, when historians start writing the first objective biographies of Bush, this is the type thing a historian might include to add color.

Even historians tend to jazz things up a bit.

Having written for several newspapers and periodicals, I often recall an old line used by editors to spur their charges onward when their imagination dwindled, Sleeper.

Down deep inside of each of us is a certain wonderment at occasionally being able to see a revelation one could only attain by "looking through eyes of another".

Journalism teachers the world over drill it into their students. It is called "perspective", Sleeper.

I wish I had a nickel for every time some editor had said, "Son, when a dog bites a man no one cares BUT when a man bites a dog, THAT'S news!

Adding to the significance of the Crawford newspaper endorsement was the fact that a 'lil ol' makeshift outdoor theater/parking lot showed "Fahrenheit 9-11" to a throng of over 3,500 when it was released in, you guessed it, Crawford, Texas.

To give you an idea of what 3,500* people look like when they're crammed into the parking lot and surrounds of Crawford's "The Alamo Draft House" (and Makeshift Theater), take a gander at this quote describing the size of Crawford's High School on the city's pro-Bush web site:



Source: http://www.crawfordtx.com/history.htm

Notice, too, how often the web site is updated: http://www.crawfordtx.com/News_Archive.htm

*attendance estimated at over 3,000: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/01/...ain633296.shtml

Another account: http://www.realcities.com/mld/realcities/e...ing/9271085.htm

It seems there were more people who showed up for the controversial outdoor screening in the Alamo Draft House parking lot than there were subscribers to the Crawford Lone Star Iconoclast.

BoF, the humor of the tiny paper's "perspective" was not lost on me. There have been stories for several years of the impact all the secret service and security activity has had on local residents who had just as soon play read the paper at the local coffee shop as be forced to wait 3 miles away from the Presidential motorcade.

Come to think of it, Dick Cheney made me miss a lunch appointment one day. There was absolutely no crossing from North to South in the city he was visiting. Freeways and overpasses were closed for 30 miles - really - and they stayed closed approximately 45 minutes around the time his motorcade passed through. There was a uniformed officer and a squad car blocking every overpass and ramp on the highway.

Crawford probably has more Black Suburbans per square mile than any town in the U.S. while the Prez is home.

The people will weigh second-hand hysteria with their first-hand witness of Bush during the debates. They will see the hysteria for what it is, they will hate it, and they will feel a stronger connection with Bush because of it. It will only make Bush stronger.

I don't know if you realize this Sleeper but the entire population of Crawford, TX is only 705 as of July 2002 - source. So having a 60% circulation is fairly significant. In fact, if you know a little about the demographics of that area, Crawford is actually on the bigger side of towns close by in that area of Texas. I guess your comment has lost a little sting now, hasn't it?

1) Will this hurt Bush?
I highly doubt that it will, Texas is squarely in Bush country and there aren't too many states that are more "Red" than Texas.

But, I would say that it is at the very least highly embarrassing (or should be) to the President. If the town you call home doesn't even support you and can manage to get 3500 people to a screening of Fahrenheit 9/11 (Almost 5 times the town's population) I would say that is a pretty sad state of affairs.

Just take off your partisan hat for a moment and put aside your talking points and think - do you find it embarrassing that your candidate doesn't have almost 100% support in his hometown, especially when it is so small? Especially when he lives in one of the most notorious "red" areas of the country? I know that I sure would were I a Bush supporter. In fact if the majority of Boston came out and didn't support Kerry I'd be a little embarrassed too.

Who knows what effect this may have on Texas, maybe it will be a wakeup call to all of those that live there, but more likely it won't. At the very least it will make for an interesting footnote for historians when they are writing about the 2004 election years from now. For now at least, it is yet another thing we can all have a good laugh about.

This is a slightly interesting footnote, nothing else.

The paper is a small one, with a weekly distribution.

Honestly, let's say Dennis Kucinich were running as the Democrat nominee. Would anyone be surprised if the Cleveland Plain Dealer endorsed Bush? Would it be some huge story?

The Iconoclast was founded in 2000, so it really doesn't have a track record to build upon.

Is it news that John Edwards would not win re-election as a Senator from North Carolina? Was it news that Al Gore did not win the popular vote in his home state of Tennessee? Not really, in my opinion. They are footnotes, interesting tidbits of trivia.

Of course there are going to be papers endorsing the other candidate in each nominee;s "home turf". That is the essence of a free press. This won't hurt Bush one bit.

You might see it that way, but I've heard more than a few conservatives say "Gore couldn't even win in his home state!" In a rather mocking, scornful way, as if to say, 'look at what a loser he is!'

That said, I think that whether it matters or not depends on whether Bush wins. If he wins, this is nothing more than a footnote. If he loses the election, then "he couldn't even get endorsed in his home town!"

I don't think this will hurt Bush in the election, but if he loses it will 'add insult to injury.'

YEEEEE dawgies!! Who'd a thunk thar was a lib'ral newspaper in Crawford, Texas? Don't that just fry yer taters?

1) Will this hurt Bush?
2) If yes, how much?

I'm surprise it even got a blurb on some network news stations. It's extrememly doubtful it will hurt him, though it was a gutsy move for a tiny paper in the Prez' so-called "hometown". It might embarass Bush, if he wasn't so proud of the fact that he doesn't read the papers (I'm assuming he meant all papers, big or small).

So when the canary dies in the coal mine you don’t worry because there’s only one canary but 200 miners? Raw numbers don’t always tell the complete story and like the spent canary it’s what it represents that truly matters.

For the first time in my life I believe this is the only presidential election where a candidate didn’t pick up the endorsement from their home town paper. I could ramble on for days why but we have many threads discussing the merits of Bush's tenure.

Never been to Crawford but from what I can tell it’s a slice from the middle of Americana. Like a lot of smaller communities across the country I’m sure they’ve felt the crunch of a stagnant economy, shortfalls in budgets due to federal cutbacks and an aging population that’s has their collective eye on the projected social security shortfall.

The significance? It was these smaller, conservative towns that Bush faired well in four years ago.

And by the way, these polls you’re so proud of are fools gold in this election. For every one you can point me to that says Bush is leading I could point you to one that says differently. Don’t bet the Crawford ranch just yet.

Unfortunately it probably won’t make a difference unless Kerry’s team raises this point in the debate or in a commercial.

I think union and major organization endorsements carry more weight than newspapers.

Edited for spelling.

What a spunky little paper!


In a town as small as Crawford, the inhabitants probably know enough about Dubya that the paper not endorsing him is a redundancy.

Yes, it will hurt Bush a little bit.


It will bring a grin and a chuckle to those who were anti-Bush anyway, but it might help tip the scale for those undecideds who value what hometown papers say about candidates.

Again, it will hurt Bush just a little bit.

It is a civil liberty for anything like this paper to mad magazine to represent their political views. I must say, its the war or something that has america so fired up over this election, maybe more people will vote from now on if not at least now. Can anyone find any comments sent back in by readers, i know that is more common with smaller papers. One could hope to find a true "fair and balanced" paper on the election and or players in it, but that is more difficult then i imagine. Being the journalist may support one, but writers other, and editors and so on. The process is american i would say, but in terms of money and or power of a paper, one boss can order say Time magazine to pump kerry and have a major play in things overall i would imagine also, and to the "average" american, who knows how well any information may be digested. Still its civil liberty, like controlled press meetings. Do I think it will hold an impact overall in the vote, this paper that is, well my magic eightball says yes, but that is as far as that goes.

edit: the word "is" was inserted.

I absolutely love small town newspapers. Even did some freelance work for one. Hey, the articles were NEWS by gosh, just about locally owned retailers whom I interviewed, got to know, and, well, if it paid better, I'd be doing that right now.

There is something right cool about local folks.

GWB tries to be one of these. But you know what? A President doesn't have to explain himself, nor does he have to justify himself, nor does he have to talk to low lives like ourselves.

Except now.

Election time arrives, Mr. Bush junior. Talk.

You have only a few hours to go, and by gosh, you'd better talk, dance, sing, or play the accordian.

Your home town paper doesn't believe in you, you rancher. Sort of. Well, brush cutter for sure.

And golfer.

So does it matter what little papers say?

You betcha by gosh.

Yet this story was picked up in this thread, which so far has provided it an additional 500+ views. I'm certain that countrockula most likely picked up this story from another news source or web site, and not by reading the "The Lone Star Iconoclast." I printed out the complete editorial in "The LoneStar Iconoclast," and I intend to drop it off at the local Democratic Party HQ...

"The Lone Star Iconoclast" may only have a weekly circulation of 425, but the story appears to have legs. Whether it impacts the election or not will largely depend on the strength and speed of those legs. Will the story be picked up as a footnote to Dan Rather's resignation? Will it be picked up on tomorrow's Lou Dobbs on CNN? Will Letterman and Leno compete to get this story on the air first?

How fast will this spread on the Internet? Or will it be debunked by someone careful enough to call Crawford and verify the story?

Just to add to this, the story was run in a couple of the national newspapers in Britain, so you can add a few hundred thousand to the total. Although obviously it'll have no impact on the election.

I don't think the story is really going to do any harm to Bush, but seeing as he's spent an impressive amount of time on his ranch since he took the full time job of president, and admits to having the paper delivered it could be just a little embarrassing for the fella.

I don't have the energy to make this a new topic.

"Kerry's hometown paper endorses Bush"

lowell sun

I'm sure we'll be reading all about this as the wire services run with it, including re-runs a few newspapers in Great Britain... and of course, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw will mention it as they roll to commercials ... NOT. Another non-story. Oh, well, maybe they have a circ greater than 425.

At least the LOWELL SUN has HALF of that sentence right.

Our own Religious Right has done a pretty good job of halting the spread of religious tolerance here in the United States and I'm not so sure the "Support our Troops" ribbon-like stickers aren't just another way of saying "Support the War or You're Not a Patriot."

In Crawford, it's most famous resident puts it like this: "Yer either with us or yer against us - you can't go on sending mexed missages."

It really won't hurt him that much at all, it's just one of those amusing, anecdotal tidbits that people will look back and laugh about, and not give much serious thougth to. Having read the editorial myself, I can tell you it is very well thought out and highlights the points where the editorial staff felt they had been lead down the wrong road. I'm very surprised at the tone that they took, most small town operations like that tend to be more conservative-at least that's true in my part of the country. A candidate for president losing his home state on election night is probably more hurtful than the hometown paper coming otu against you and for your opponent.

And those of us on the Kerry side have been watching Doonesbury all week. He has been including links to some interesting web sites, people that backed George W. Bush four years ago, but who have changed their mind since. Today's Doonesbury strip probably reached a few more than 425 people...

Thanks Sleeper, for the original heads up! If it weren't for alert readers like you, some of us in the ABB crowd might never have looked to see what the Lone Star Iconoclast had to say about this Presidential race...