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Seeing both sides; working the middle
© St. Petersburg Times, Sometimes I'm a wild-eyed liberal, pink around the gills and spouting Communist doctrine. Sometimes I'm a right-wing conservative in bed with the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Oliver North. That's the way some readers see me when I write. The confusing thing is that sometimes the very same words evoke both views. That happened earlier this year when I wrote a couple of columns about Gov. Jeb Bush and some nasty rumors being spread by a Democrat Web site. "You left-wing liberals make me sick," wrote a Palmetto man who sent me a rather nasty e-mail, which also questioned the sexual orientation of our editorial board. Another reader accused me of having "a rabid bias against any form of conservatism." Some Republicans thought I should ignore the rumors. Some Democrats didn't like being caught spreading an untrue rumor. So both sides berated me. When I am lambasted by both sides it makes me figure I'm in about the right place. People who expect me to have a particular political philosophy just because I work for a newspaper that frequently endorses Democrats have not been paying attention. I am an equal-opportunity offender. I don't care what party a public official is in. If he or she has done something dumb or wrong, they are fair game. If there is any single sentence that would describe how I happen to write bad about a politician it would be a phrase I "borrowed" from Pinellas vice detectives many years ago. "When you can't get them to see the light -- make them feel the heat." It was on a sign in the detective bureau. Sounded like a pretty good idea for writing news stories to me, so I keep it taped to my computer to remind me that newspapers often are helpful in making public officials "see the light" and do what they were supposed to do in the first place. One of the basic lessons I have learned from the practice of journalism is that most people are neither all good or all bad. Too many people are too willing to condemn a person just because they disagree with them. This is a lesson any parent should recognize. That little darling boy or girl can do something absolutely awful, but it doesn't make the child awful. Any parent who thinks it does is likely to rear a child who turns out to meet those expectations. People always are asking me what political party I belong to. By party registration I am a Democrat -- this week. I have, I confess, been a Republican in the past -- and might be again. It all depends on who runs. Each year when the candidates qualify in July, I look at the list of those that will be on the ballot where I live and decide what I need to be. In Tallahassee, if you are not registered as a Democrat, you don't get a vote in most races. Sometimes a switch is necessary because some absolute idiot has signed up as a candidate for governor or the Legislature or even the local county commission. Obviously, I need to get involved. Anyone who thinks there is any party ideology behind my registration is nuts. I would register as an Independent or with no party affiliation if Florida had truly open primaries that allowed me to cast my ballot in either party. Ideally, we would have ballots that allowed me to vote for the person and not the party, but 36 years of experience as a reporter has taught me not to associate the word "ideal" with Florida politics. Back when he was governor, Lawton Chiles sent a high-ranking staffer to talk to me. "The governor is very upset with you," he said. "He does not understand your willingness to criticize him. He always thought the St. Petersburg Times was a gimme." Chiles finally learned there are no sacred cows in my book and there is no governor, indeed no politician, that is above being criticized. And watched closely.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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Times columns today Lucy Morgan Alicia Caldwell Sandra Thompson Darrell Fry From the Times STATE desk |
