On November 19, the Missouri Secretary of State’s office said that John McCain did carry Missouri in the electoral college. Four counties still haven’t completed their official canvass. But since McCain is ahead by 4,355 votes, and only 3,159 uncounted provisional ballots remain, it is obvious that the Republican electors are elected.
I, Donald Raymond Lake, late of Ruskin HS [KCMO] and the University of Misery, generally consider any one associated with BAN to be a 21st secular saint. How ever, why the Missou blog? My Yokohoma Moma [Obama] has ALREADY achieved [anti populist] electorial bliss.
Why is the late, late show in the Heart Land even beginning to look like ‘news’. [Insane McCain carries the red neck dirt farmers of the mid west is probably more accurately labled ‘Olds’!]
The strident pro DNC stance of the Missouri metropolitan press, like the Kansas City [Falling] Star, is MUCH more news worthy, especially concerning alternative politics and ballot access.
For example, a very good Libertarian journalist lives right down the road from The Jackson County Advocate [nee, The Grandview Times, a very inside dirisive term]. I have been lobbying, with out his permission, to have Mark Ferguson do a regular colunm for this alternative weekly —-with out success.
KCMetro and Saint Louis area HATE each other. [And this is inspite that they are carbon copies of each other….] Rivals is an under statement, they might as well be in different countries…..
Any way, the Aint Louis Post Dispatch [think Mister Pulitzer] —-also on the sellers’ block, like the bankrupted McClatchy Cabal and KC Star, is also 115% Pro Obama and anti any thing DNC.
Missouri ‘East Side’ Libertarian /Boston Tea Party columnist Tom Knapp is also avaible for main line journalist positions. Also is ignored by the DNC puppet establishment. [And Citizens For A Better Veterans Home is not overly in luv with [so called] Libertarians]
MaCain wins a grossly unfair match in the heart land. In November 008 that is BARELY NEWS. And it sure is just a space filler verses the much more important, even vital challanges, to the objective and embattled citizens of the Corporate States Of Merica.
Gotta go, got to catch a private jet to fly to Sacramento or DC to plead ‘bail out’! [Hey it worked for Chrysler [1980], AIG, Wells Fargo, Fanny Mae, Ginnie Mac and the rest of the three piece suits…..
MONEY MONEY MONEY,Donald R. Lake:
Digg it del.icio.us AIM Seeking opinionated Midwest Voices columnists
By MIRIAM PEPPER
The Kansas City Star
By the end of this year, we’ll thank and say farewell to our Midwest Voices panel of 10 provocative/funny/liberal/conservative/moderate contributors. Each Saturday on a rotating basis, and many more times a week on the voices blog (voices.kansascity.com), a Midwest Voices writer speaks out with his/her personal opinion on current affairs.
If you would like to be considered a candidate to join the ’09 panel, now’s the time to apply.
We’ll choose area writers from different backgrounds and perspectives to write for the op-ed page and post opinions on our blog. We pay $75 per printed column and graciously accept unlimited gratis contributions to the blog, a site that attracted more than 1.5 million page views last month.
Past contributors have included lawyers, scientists, at-home moms, doctors, social workers, journalism school grads who pursued other paths, novelists, historians, business owners, accountants, laborers, job-hoppers and public policy experts.
In short, we seek all kinds of writers who care about our community and current issues and have a talent for words.
The idea is simple: By gathering more community columnists, we expand the views that appear on our pages and on our blog.
Columnists choose their own topics and can expect to be published five times during 2009 in print, and the sky’s the limit on the blog work. What’s most important is the ability to write clearly, passionately and accurately from your point of view.
Spread the word to others you think might be good candidates.
Whatever your political persuasion, we are interested. The panel should not be a mirror-image of staff columnists.
Don’t doubt that readers will agree — and ferociously disagree — with some things you write. A thick skin is a must. A willingness to be edited and be careful with facts is also a must.
We will welcome our new panel in January with a lunch, a tour of the newspaper and a tips list on how to survive and thrive in the opinion world.
Most panelists depart with newfound appreciation for the challenges of writing tight, effective commentary.
We’ve been fortunate to have lots of good applicants in the past, and we hope for many more this time. If you weren’t selected before, do try again.
For fairness reasons, we won’t consider elected officials, Star family members and past contributors. We want to keep expanding our circle of writers.
We look forward to hearing from many of you by Dec. 1.
Want to be a guest writer for The Star?
To apply, send a 400-word sample opinion column, a brief bio including your political persuasion and home address, and a short description of five possible column topics that interest you for ’09. Deadline: Dec. 1. Send e-mail applications to oped@kcstar.com with Midwest Voices Application in the subject line, or write to Midwest Voices, c/o Editorial Page, The Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd. Kansas City, MO 64108.
To reach Miriam Pepper, editorial page editor, send e-mail to mpepper@kcstar.com or call 816-234-4421.
Join the discussion
Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open debate is the goal, but please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the “Report as violation” link to notify a KansasCity.com editor. Thanks for your feedback.
Recent Comments
G. W. DeVaux : I know what you mean. I read the entire pitch with…
Do you really? The STAR will not even print a letter for me, am I…
»Read More
Post Your Comment
More Kansas City [Falling] Star
Opinions weren’t diverse enough during election cycle
By DEREK DONOVAN
The Kansas City Star
Throughout the 2008 campaign season, I kept careful tally of readers’ impressions of bias in The Kansas City Star’s election news. The response was almost universal: The paper was pro-Barack Obama, anti-John McCain.
Specifics, then, I asked. Can you point me to news stories with loaded language, unfair focus or other concrete examples of favoring one candidate? The replies were few. Some pointed to an Oct. 14 story about a Sarah Palin rally, which led with the vice presidential candidate’s mistaking cheers from the back of the crowd for hecklers. Several readers saw that as a gratuitous knock, and I agree fully. It was a cheap shot, suitable for “The Daily Show†and not a mainstream newspaper.
Others pointed primarily to sins of omission, thinking the paper should have focused more on Obama’s connections with several figures in his past, primarily former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers and political fundraiser Antoin “Tony†Rezko, who was convicted on multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and bribery in June. Here, the argument is much murkier.
Down the road , journalists may wish that they’d looked at Obama’s background more closely. On the other hand, these relationships have been mentioned dozens of times throughout the paper — and many sordid details repeated as gospel on the Internet don’t stand up to scrutiny.
Why, then, the overwhelming number of complaints that The Star was systematically biased towards Obama, if few readers could point to particular problematic news stories? I’ll let a self-identified Democrat do the heavy lifting:
“I can’t imagine a vote for a Republican in a million years, but Democrats are supposed to stand up for everyone’s right to be heard, (and) I’m almost embarrassed by The Star,†she wrote. “When I read your paper, not just the Opinion section, it’s pretty hard for me to argue with my mother when she says it’s unfair. ‘The Buzz’ is all over McCain, and it’s the same with columns in the (Local) section, in the comics, and even Jason Whitlock in Sports calls Obama ‘change we can believe in.’ I have to tell my mother she’s right sometimes.â€
This is the key. I believe The Star has roundly failed to give readers a fair variety of commentary throughout the paper.
With a few minor exceptions, I found news coverage of the election to be almost painstakingly equitable, sometimes even down to bringing up both candidates in stories that didn’t really require it. I also think the lineup of syndicated columns and cartoonists in the Opinion section has been generally evenhanded.
And while there was a bit of chicken-and-egg, especially in the final weeks as Obama’s campaign sailed along smoothly while McCain’s suffered internal bickering and lurching messages, there’s no question that the pundit class, including those in “The Buzz†on Page A-2, gave disproportionate lumps to the GOP.
Some of the imbalance is largely the result of eight years under an increasingly unpopular Republican president. Of course, it’s also worth noting that part of McCain’s strategy was to decry the foregone conclusion of a biased press corps.
But as I’ve said many times, readers form their impressions of fairness cumulatively and over time. I fully grasp why conservatives feel The Star’s deck was stacked against them.
To reach Derek Donovan, send e-mail to readerrep@kcstar.com or call 816-234-4487 weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and noon. Visit Ad Astrum, the readers’ representative blog, at
Join the discussion
Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open debate is the goal, but please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the “Report as violation” link to notify a KansasCity.com editor. Thanks for your feedback.
Spam aside, call it a consolation prize for McCain, and it only really matters for the record-keeping.
Did Bob Barr’s vote total go up slightly due to the late Missouri reporting?
Nope, Knapp didn’t vote for him, so it’s stuck at -20.
I suspect Tom Knapp did vote for Barr, since the Boston Tea Party did not have write-in status in Missouri and Tom knew that (I know he knew, since he’s the one who told me).
Missouri politics has become a family business. In several rural areas being the State Rep and or State Senator is basically handed down from generation to generation. Statewide we have the two major political parties being led by two families. In one corner, wearing red trunks and stuck in second gear are the Blunts. Yep, that’s Roy Blunt, former Republican Whip of the House and his son Matt…….former Governor. In the other corner, wearing the blue trunks and also stuck in gear are the Carnahans….former US Senator Jean, wife of deceased Governor Mel, their daughter Robin, now Secretary of State and Russ, US Rep.
FYI, Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash while running for US Senator…even from the grave he defeated John Ashcroft. Needing a job, W made him Attorney General.
Put this together with term limits and what we get is not necessarily the creme of the crop politically in the Show Me State.
By the way, there were several trouble spots election night in St Louis and St Louis County.
Seriously, does anyone know for sure if we have a finaly Bob Barr vote total?
Does it include Missouri?
How about the votes from Guam?
How about write-in votes?
You could almost say Barr’s total could be anywheres from 511,200 votes to 520,000 votes.
It does make a difference. Cause some have been saying that his vote total was mediocre. 520,000 is much better than the originally reported 500,000 figure everyone was using for that assessment.
I didn’t vote for McCain; but, I think he deserves respect and gratitude for trying to do the impossible. I expect Biden to be President within a month after Obama takes office.
Dear Eric Dondero,
According to D.C.’s Political Report, which has been keeping track based on official and unofficial returns posted on state web pages, Bob Barr has received 515,935 votes for 0.40% nationwide. That number is sure to increase and additional states release their numbers, but is unlikely to climb higher than 520,000.
BTW, D.C.’s Political Report includes reported write-in votes and returns from Guam.
Time to play the funeral dirge.
MO loses it’s coveted position as bellwether of the nation, and must give the crown up to OH.
Boo-hoo.
Boring long winded article in the Kansas City [Falling] Star saying the same thing in 628 words!
Ah, the Dead Tree Media…….*
Don Lake, Ruskin [KCMO] and U of Misery…….
* http://www.kcstar.com